Myles Gray’s death after a severe beating by Vancouver police was deemed a homicide by a B.C. coroner’s inquest jury on Monday.
The Monday finding, which carries no finding of legal responsibility, comes after 11 days of testimony about the arrest and death of the 33-year-old nearly eight years ago.
Gray died in August 2015 after officers responded to a 911 call about an agitated man who had sprayed a woman with a garden hose. The beating that ensued during his arrest left him with injuries including hemorrhaging in his testicles and fractures in his eye socket, nose, voice box and rib.
“As a mother, that is what I needed out there is the truth. And the pathologist spoke the truth, the toxicologist spoke the truth,” Gray’s mother Margie Gray said of the inquest’s findings.
“As I understand the evidence before we started, the position of the VPD has always been that the death was in effect natural causes,” Ian Donaldson’ the family’s lawyer, added.
“And I think the verdict, from my perspective the jury’s verdict puts an end to that. We know what the cause of death was, we heard it from the forensic pathologist, and the jury endorsed and accepted that.”
Coroner Larry Marzinzik tasked the jury with classifying Gray’s death into one of five categories: natural death, accidental death, suicide, homicide or undetermined.
He said homicide refers to a death due to injury intentionally inflicted by another person, but it’s a neutral term that doesn’t imply fault or blame.
In addition to its finding of homicide, jurors produced three recommendations for preventing similar deaths in the future, including expedited implementation of body-worn cameras for all patrol officers in the Vancouver Police Department.
They also recommended a full review of police crisis de-escalation training and enhancement of that program, citing “tunnel vision” among officers who responded to the 911 call. The jury further suggested a review of policies and procedures around toxicology samples, with consideration that they be held until the completion of all investigations, rather than discarded after six months.
Dr. Matthew Orde, the forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Gray, testified last week that a “perfect storm” of factors led to his death, including his extreme physical exertion and the actions of police to restrain him.
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Gray was also experiencing an “acute behavioural disturbance,” he said.
Orde concluded Gray died as a result of cardiac arrest complicated by police actions, pointing specifically to “neck compression,” blunt force injuries, the use of pepper spray, forcing Gray onto his stomach, and handcuffing him behind his back.
“In the context of someone who’s extremely fatigued, (whose) body is fully ramped up … I think these issues would be enough to tip him over the edge,” Orde told the jury on Thursday.
The inquest heard from 42 witnesses, including 14 Vancouver police officers and Gray’s sister, Melissa Gray.
Gray’s family has attended each day of the inquest, calling for improved de-escalation and mental health training for police, as well as consequences for the officers who beat him.
To date, a single police officer has apologized to the family during the inquest. After testifying on April 24, Const. John Gravengard looked at Gray’s parents and said he is, “truly sorry to the family for your son’s loss … it’s not easy and I’m truly sorry.”
A years-long investigation by B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office’s ultimately found reasonable grounds to believe police may have committed an offence during Gray’s arrest, and submitted a report to the BC Prosecution Service for consideration of charges.
The service announced in late 2020, however, it would not pursue charges against the officers, citing a lack of evidence a crime was committed, and no witnesses beyond the officers involved in the struggle.
A separate discipline proceeding is ongoing in connection to Gray’s death which could result in the dismissal of the seven Vancouver police officers who remain on active duty. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has said there is no timeline for when a decision must be made.
Outside the Burnaby coroner’s court, Donaldson said the inquest’s findings could be enough to reopen the criminal case against the officers.
“Is there a sound reason from my perspective to look at this case again and make a fresh decision? Yes,” he said.
The inquest heard that on the day of his death, Gray was making a delivery to a florists’ supply shop in Vancouver as part of his business on the Sunshine Coast.
Witnesses said he swore at, and sprayed a woman with a garden hose while shirtless, before walking in circles, yelling, and running into the street. Police then responded to a 911 call about an agitated man.
Gray’s family has described him as a goofy, kind, loyal and much-beloved man with many friends. His sister Melissa told reporters he was innocent and experiencing a mental health crisis, and police have repeatedly lied about the circumstances around his death.
“We are not going away,” Melissa said on April 27. “We will fight for the rest of our lives — for my brother, that this doesn’t happen to somebody else who was in mental health crisis.”
The family has said it is pleased that expert testimony has shown Gray was not intoxicated by any substance when he died, and that he likely wouldn’t have died had it not been for the Vancouver police action’s on Aug. 13, 2015.
— with files from Global News’ Elizabeth McSheffrey
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