OPCC reopens police conduct investigation into 2015 death of Myles Gray

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is reopening a suspended investigation into the death of Myles Gray, the 33-year-old man who died in a confrontation with seven Vancouver police officers in August 2015.

On Wednesday, Crown prosecutors said none of the officers involved will face charges in his death. Now that criminal charges will not proceed, the OPCC is going ahead with a disciplinary-conduct investigation into the actions of the officers.

It had originally been ordered in 2015 but was suspended while the criminal investigation was underway.

"Any time a person suffers serious harm or death by municipal police there is always mandatory investigation into the conduct of those officers," said Andrea Spindler, deputy police complaint commissioner.

The investigation will be conducted independently of the Vancouver Police Department, and Spindler says the OPCC has broader powers to compel officers to speak.

During the early stages of the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) probe, there were issues with two of the police officers not co-operating. One of them was later ordered by the courts to do so. 

The OPCC's investigation will look at officer conduct and any training or policy related issues. It has the ability to do systemic investigations and "to hopefully prevent circumstances like this from occurring in the future," said Spindler.

"Police have tremendous powers and they are authorized to use force but responsible for any excessive use of that force, and I understand the public demands accountability and that's not unreasonable. So, it's important for our office to examine these issues and look critically at the actions of police," said Spindler. 

In a lengthy statement released Wednesday, the B.C. Prosecution Service explained its decision not to charge anyone over Gray's death.

It said that because of contradictions between the statements of the officers involved and an inability to pinpoint the exact cause of death, they have not been able to establish a clear picture of what happened and therefore do not believe they can prove any of the officers committed manslaughter or assault.

Now that the Crown's consideration of charges has wrapped up, the B.C. Coroners Service says it will resume its investigation into Gray's death. That probe could not be concluded while the criminal process was underway, according to Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe.

In a news release Thursday afternoon, Lapointe said her office will wrap up the investigation "as quickly as possible," and then determine whether to hold a public inquest into what happened.

"The Coroners Act requires deaths that occur while an individual is detained by or in the custody of police be reviewed at inquest unless a legislative exception applies," Lapointe said.

IIO recommended charges

Gray, a 33-year-old owner of a wholesale florist business in Sechelt, B.C., suffered a long list of injuries in his encounter with seven Vancouver officers, including multiple broken bones and brain bleeding. He was unarmed at the time. There were no civilian eyewitnesses and there was no video evidence of the incident. 

Gray was in the Lower Mainland to make a delivery to a customer in Burnaby at the time of the confrontation, according to the prosecution service.

Police were called when a resident of a home on Southeast Marine Drive reported that Gray had taken a garden hose from his mother and sprayed her; the mother said Gray was speaking "gibberish." At the time, B.C. was in the midst of a drought and lawn watering was banned in Metro Vancouver.

The altercation that ended Gray's life took place in a backyard on nearby Joffre Avenue. 

After the IIO completed its investigation into the matter, it recommended charges to Crown. 

"No one saw what happened but the involved officers. Nevertheless, based on the evidence ... I believed there was reasonable grounds for an offence, given the facts we did know," said Ron MacDonald, the chief civilian director of the IIO. 

"But it's up to Crown to determine if [that's] sufficient for trial. They applied their test and determined it was not."  

In addition to the OPCC conducting its own investigation, a civil lawsuit could also be drawn, MacDonald said.

"This matter may be far from over," he said.