Myles Gray’s family doctor has told a public hearing into his patient’s 2015 police-involved death that Gray told him he had been injecting unprescribed testosterone, an anabolic steroid.
But Dr. Christoffel Mentz-Serfontein says Gray never displayed any behaviour that caused concern about him being violent toward anyone and described him as “always pleasant and courteous.”
He says Gray, who had bipolar disorder, had been using “black market” steroids, which are sometimes much higher dosages than those prescribed by a doctor, and can cause a variety of side effects, such as cardiovascular issues.
Mentz-Serfontein says the steroids caused Gray to have an elevated red blood cell count, and he told his patient that his use of the steroids could aggravate his bipolar disorder.
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On cross-examination, the physician testified that a concern with testosterone use in someone with bipolar disorder was that it could destabilize their mood, make them more manic and increase aggression in someone displaying mania.
Gray’s family had sought the hearing after a disciplinary authority cleared the seven officers of misconduct in 2024.
Seven officers have denied misconduct in Gray’s beating death, which a coroner’s jury ruled a homicide in 2023.
That jury concluded in 2023 that Gray’s death was a homicide after hearing that he died shortly after a beating by several officers, leaving him with injuries including a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles.
Police at the inquest had testified that Gray exhibited “superhuman strength” and was behaving in an “animalistic” way, and he didn’t appear to feel pain as they hit him with their batons and knees, punched him in the face and wrestled him to the ground.
Coroner’s juries do not find criminal fault and a finding of homicide means death due to injury intentionally inflicted by another person.
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