A public hearing into the 2015 police beating death of Myles Gray got underway on Monday in Vancouver.
The hearing by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner into the circumstances of Gray’s death after a violent altercation with a group of Vancouver police officers in Burnaby, B.C., is scheduled to last 10 weeks.
His family sought the hearing after a disciplinary authority cleared the seven officers of misconduct in 2024, and Margaret Gray, his mother, was the first witness to testify on Monday.
She said that when Myles was 18 years old, he started to act a bit strange and wasn’t sleeping or eating.
She said she took him to the hospital in Powell River and eventually to the Eric Martin Pavilion in Victoria, where Myles was diagnosed as bipolar and given a Valproic acid medication.
Gray said she was not aware of any episodes involving her son after what happened when he was 18 years old.
She did say her son was “acting odd” two weeks prior to his death and under cross-examination, Gray said she stated Myles had been using marijuana for approximately two months prior and it altered his behaviour, but “he was never violent and he was never aggressive.”
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She said she hopes the hearing reveals the full truth about her son’s death, and why “accountability failed,” after none of the officers involved in the fatal altercation were ever charged.
Speaking after day one of testimony, Myles’ sister, Melissa, said she felt it was important to be there for her brother.
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“I just want to honour him every day, and I just want to be here to show my support for my brother,” she said.
“We can’t bring him back; there’s nothing we can do in that regard.”
There are 33 witnesses scheduled, along with a significant number of exhibits.
Myles Gray suffered injuries, including ruptured testicles and fractures in his eye socket, nose, voice box and rib in the beating death.
Lawyer Brian Smith, general counsel for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, told reporters last week that it’s unknown if any of the seven officers will testify, as they cannot be compelled to do so.
At the start of the hearing on Monday, adjudicator, retired B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey, asked five of the seven responding officers present about the allegations. They all denied allegations of misconduct on the record.
That included Const. Eric Birzneck (the only officer facing one allegation only), Const. Josh Wong, Const. Beau Spencer, Const. Hardeep Sahota and Const. Nick Thompson.
Const. Kory Folkestad and Const. Derek Cain were not present at the hearing on Monday due to medical reasons, according to their lawyers, who denied the allegations on their behalf.
In 2023, a coroner’s inquest ruled the death was a homicide, although coroner Larry Marzinzik told the jury the term is neutral and does not imply fault.
–with files from The Canadian Press
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