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Public hearing into Myles Gray's death by Vancouver police resumes Monday after five-month delay. Gray died in 2015 after an altercation with seven VPD officers in Burnaby.
A public hearing into the beating death of Myles Gray by Vancouver police in a Burnaby backyard will resume Monday after a five-month delay. Gray was in apparent mental health distress in August 2015 when he walked away from his work vehicle while dropping off product at a South Vancouver business.
Background of Myles Gray death
His interaction with police began when a member of the public phoned 911 to report Gray had sprayed a woman with a garden hose. According to previous testimony, Const. Hardeep Sahota, the first officer to arrive, located Gray just across Boundary Road in Burnaby and attempted to speak with him.
She reportedly found him to be threatening so she called for backup – and as she did so, Gray entered the backyard of a house. Eventually a total of seven Vancouver Police Department officers would be involved in the physical altercation, and when it was over Gray lay dead in the yard.
An autopsy revealed Gray had multiple serious injuries, including a crushed larynx, ruptured testicles, a broken eye socket and nose, and a dislocated jaw. The Independent Investigations Office of B.C. took conduct of the case and eventually forwarded a report to Crown counsel for consideration of charges against the officers.
Legal proceedings and delays
The B.C. Prosecution Service chose not to proceed, in part because the only witnesses to the violent altercation were the officers themselves. A jury at a coroner’s inquest determined Gray’s death to be a homicide.
The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner scheduled the public hearing for ten weeks beginning in January of this year. Shortly after it began, it faced its first significant delay after hearing lawyer Brad Hickford, who acted in a prosecutorial-style role presenting evidence, suddenly stepped down following a controversy where somebody in the room uttered a vulgar phrase into a hot mic.
The hearing resumed with Brock Martland in the role previously occupied by Hickford. At the end of April, another matter arose derailing the schedule for five additional months. Scott Wright, a lawyer representing respondent officer Const. Nick Thompson, was appointed as a provincial court judge and had to step aside.
Adjudicator Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey denied an application by Kevin Westell, a lawyer representing Const. Josh Wong in the proceeding, to take on Thompson as a client as well. Arnold-Bailey cited a possible conflict of interest if Westell was to represent two of the seven officers and ordered Thompson to retain different counsel.
Respondent officers and hearing schedule
With close to a dozen lawyers representing the officers, the VPD, the OPCC and the Gray family, finding dates for resuming the hearing proved challenging – and that is what caused the most recent five-month delay.
Const. Kory Folkestad, Const. Eric Birzneck, Const. Derek Cain and Const. Beau Spencer are the other respondent officers at the hearing. It is not clear yet whether the respondent officers will take the stand. They are not obligated to because the hearing could lead to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from the VPD.
Myles Gray Vancouver Police Public Hearing Burnaby Independent Investigations Office Office Of The Police Complaints Commissioner Const. Nick Thompson
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