Three years after the death of a 33-year-old Sunshine Coast man in an incident with Vancouver police, the Independent Investigations Office (IIO) says it still needs “important third party information” before concluding its probe and deciding if any of the officers involved should face charges.
Myles Gray of Sechelt was making deliveries for his landscape business near South East Marine Drive and Joffre Avenue in Vancouver on Aug. 13, 2015 when police got what they described as a call about a dispute over watering.
At some point, Gray’s family claims in a lawsuit filed in 2016, “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.”
The IIO went to court in late 2017 in an effort to get one of the officers who was there, Const. Hardeed Sahota, to cooperate with investigators. Sahota is, so far, the only officer involved who has been named publicly.
The IIO withdrew its petition in early March, after Sahota agreed to be interviewed.
At the time, Ron MacDonald, the IIO’s chief civilian director, said, “I am confident this resolution will avoid unnecessary delay while maintaining the integrity of our investigation” and that the next step would be conducting a review of all of the material to “determine if there are any outstanding tasks.”
In an emailed statement to Coast Reporter Aug. 8, MacDonald said, “The IIO investigation into the death of Myles Gray is ongoing. It is receiving significant attention from the investigative team. As we await receipt of important third party information we continue to prepare for conclusion. Affected parties have been updated in progress. However, given the state of the matter, no further information or updates can be provided at this time.”
None of the claims in the Gray’s lawsuit has been proven in court.
