The Independent Investigations Office (IIO) announced late Wednesday that it was filing a Supreme Court petition seeking an order for a Vancouver police officer to cooperate fully with the investigation into the death of Myles Gray of Sechelt.
Gray died following an altercation with police on Aug. 13, 2015. He was reportedly unarmed and had no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system.
The IIO has been investigating ever since, and no civilian witnesses have come forward, leaving the police officers at the scene as the only ones who can shed light on what happened.
According to an Oct. 11 release from the IIO, “A witness officer [Const. Hardeep Sahota], who has a duty under the Police Act to cooperate fully with the IIO, has refused to attend for a second interview... In this case, the officer, through her legal counsel, is imposing conditions on the IIO prior to a second interview. The IIO does not agree to those conditions.”
Both the IIO and Gray’s mother Margie told Coast Reporter in April that they expected this development.
“I think the IIO will have to take the VPD to court if they refuse to cooperate,” Margie Gray said at the time. “It is shocking to us every day that Myles is dead. Dead by police and yet nearing 20 months later they are being so protected. It is a shocking reality that this actually happened right here in Vancouver. No one is taking responsibility for killing our son.”
The claims made in the IIO court petition seem to support those in a lawsuit filed by Gray’s parents last February that “officers beat the deceased to death by inflicting massive physical traumas upon him through repeated grievous, violent assaults and batteries, including after they had detained and restrained him.”
In a statement of background facts, the IIO says Vancouver police received a call on Aug. 13, 2015 about a man spraying a woman with a garden hose at an address on South East Marine Drive.
Const. Sahota was the first officer to arrive.
“Constable Sahota reported an aggressive confrontation between her and [Myles Gray] and requested further backup support,” the statement says. “When backup arrived an incident developed in a garden in the backyard of a Joffre Avenue residence… The incident ultimately involved a total of eight VPD officers… There were no civilian or independent witnesses.”
The statement also outlines a list of serious injuries suffered by Gray, including: a broken nose, fractured voice box, dislocated jaw, fractures around the eye socket, broken rib and sternum, and “hemorrhagic injury of one testicle.” It also says the coroner has not yet determined a specific cause of death.
According to the IIO, investigators found that none of the officers made any notes about the incident – a violation of VPD policy – although seven of the eight filled out evidence pages in the PRIME computer database between January and April of 2016, months after the incident.
The IIO’s court filing also says that Sahota is no longer considered a “subject officer” in the investigation, but is a key witness.
None of the claims in the Gray’s lawsuit or the IIO petition has been proven in court.
