BURST
A public hearing into the actions of seven Vancouver Police officers involved in the 2015 death of Myles Gray is set to start on Monday.
The 10-week hearing starts at 9:30 a.m. at UBC Robson Square in downtown Vancouver with retired B.C. Supreme Court judge Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey presiding over the proceedings, which is scheduled to run from Jan. 19 to March 26.
Among the witnesses expected to speak Monday is Gray’s mother, Margaret Gray, and three civilian witnesses who saw Gray before police arrived.
Gray died Aug. 13, 2015, after a six-minute interaction with Vancouver police officers who were trying to restrain him. The officers had responded to a 911 call about a man acting erratically and had sprayed a woman with water from a garden hose.
The officers used force to subdue and restrain Gray, who had several injuries, including bleeding in his brain and testes, and fractures in his right eye socket, rib and nose. Gray lost consciousness while he was in handcuffs and died at the scene. He was 33.
The circumstances around Gray’s death have been the subject of other investigations.
In 2023, a police disciplinary hearing examined allegations the officers “intentionally or recklessly used unnecessary force” and that six out of seven officers failed to make or provide notes.
In October 2024, the report by Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord cleared the officers of wrongdoing in Gray’s death.
But the OPCC noted Dubord said the process was “lopsided” and acknowledged there was limited evidence, and that there were discrepancies and inconsistencies in the statements of the officers. There was also no cross-examination of the five officers who testified.
Earlier, a coroners inquest ruled Gray died by homicide. The coroner said the term was neutral and does not imply fault or blame.
Following the disciplinary hearing report, Gray’s family requested a public hearing from the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
Police Complaint Commissioner Prabhu Rajan said a public hearing was necessary and in the public interest, and he would have called for one even without the family’s request.
In calling for the hearing, Rajan said he recognized the length of time the investigations have been ongoing and the toll it has taken on Gray’s family, the officers and the officers’ families.
“I carefully considered whether it might be better to bring closure by allowing the (disciplinary hearing decision) to be the last word on this matter,” he said at the time. “However, questions remain unasked and unanswered.”
The OPCC said the officers cannot be compelled to testify at the public hearing, “but adverse inferences may be drawn if they do not.”
The hearing is expected to be one of the largest in the OPCC’s history.
The officers involved are VPD constables Kory Folkestad, Eric Birzneck, Derek Cain, Josh Wong, Beau Spencer, Hardeep Sahota and Nick Thompson. The official complainant is Mike Easson, Gray’s brother-in-law.
More to come …