Protesters hold banners with a photograph of Myles Gray, who died following a confrontation with several police officers in 2015, before the start of a coroner's inquest into his death, in Burnaby, B.C., on April 17.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
A jury in a coroner’s inquest has found that Myles Gray’s death after a struggle with police was a homicide, and is recommending that the Vancouver Police Department add more in-person training and improve the way it teaches officers to engage with people experiencing mental-health crises.
Mr. Gray, a Vancouver-area entrepreneur, died with serious injuries after police responded to a call about him behaving erratically in the south of the city in August, 2015.
The jury’s homicide designation means he was killed by injuries intentionally inflicted by another person. But a coroner’s inquest does not determine guilt, and the finding confers no legal liability. Provincial Crown prosecutors have already declined to lay criminal charges against any of the responding officers, though seven still face allegations under the provincial Police Act. They are accused of using unnecessary force on Mr. Gray.
Breaking down the blue wall of police silence
Ian Donaldson, the lawyer who represented Mr. Gray’s family at the inquest, told reporters that the homicide finding is significant because the police position had always been that Mr. Gray died of natural causes.
The jury’s recommendation for better training was accompanied by a request for the VPD to speed up its efforts to equip all its patrol officers with body cameras.
Over 10 days, the jury heard testimony from Mr. Gray’s family, as well as the mother and son who called police, the responding police officers, the pathologist who itemized the injuries to Mr. Gray’s body, and others involved in the high-profile incident and its aftermath.
The inquest heard testimony from all seven of the officers still facing unnecessary force allegations. The initial trio to respond testified that they pepper sprayed Mr. Gray, then tried to handcuff the shirtless and shoeless man before they were joined by at least four other officers. They said the group used force during a struggle under a bush, and then continued after Mr. Gray was pulled out of the foliage.
The officers all characterized their response as chaotic, and they said they were without a clear leader in the moment. None of them could clearly recall the punches, kicks, baton strikes and two chokeholds their colleagues used on Mr. Gray. Only one testified to noticing any injuries to him. Mr. Gray suffered a broken nose, eye socket, rib and voice box, as well as brain bleeding and a ruptured testicle.
As part of the jury’s recommendation on training, it said the VPD should clearly define how officers determine who is in charge when multiple constables respond to the same crisis call at once.
“Jurors heard evidence of tunnel vision among police officers engaged in the incident, leading to a lack of coordination of efforts to restrain and control the deceased,” said the jury foreperson, whose name was not released by the inquest.
The VPD said in a statement that the department appreciates the work done by the jury and everyone who testified, but will need more time to review the recommendations before commenting.
At the end of last week, Michael Massine, an expert who helped write B.C.’s policing standards on using force, told the inquest that the VPD has a standalone facility capable of offering the hands-on training recommended by the jury. But, Mr. Massine testified, delivering these scenario classes, which can include hired actors, is not cheap. Many departments don’t have the resources to do it effectively, he said.
Mr. Gray’s sister Melissa Gray, a psychiatric nurse, opened the two weeks of testimony by telling the jury how, when her mother told her that her big brother was missing, she thought the worst-case scenario was that he had been apprehended under the provincial Mental Health Act and “brought to hospital to be kept safe.”
“About six hours later, I found out he was killed, and then I found out how he was killed,” she said. After Mr. Gray’s death, Ms. Gray took over his business, which supplies greenery to florists in the region.
“The VPD clearly do not have the skills, the knowledge or the capacity to handle vulnerable people in distress,” she said.
“At least not that day.”
The presiding coroner, Larry Marzinzik, denied a request by Mr. Gray’s family that an image of his bruised and beaten face be shared with the jury. Mr. Marzinzik told the inquest he had weighed the importance of being transparent against the fact that the officers had already taken the stand and could not respond.
One policy some of the officers who responded that day and Mr. Gray’s family could agree upon was the need for body cameras.
The inquest heard the VPD is in the process of buying body cameras, with audio recording capabilities, for a pilot project that will equip up to 100 patrol officers with the technology this fall. Vancouver city council passed a motion in December paving the way for all front-line officers to be wearing these cameras by 2025.
With a report from the Canadian Press