Our definition of police brutality this week is the cruel and inhuman treatment meted out to the family of the late Myles Gray by the Vancouver Police Department and the Independent Investigations Office of BC.
Myles, 33, owner of Selma Park Evergreens, went into Vancouver on Thursday, Aug. 13 to do business. Somehow there was a kerfuffle and police were called to deal with “a distraught man causing a disturbance” on South East Marine Drive.
Myles was a husky guy, but, according to his family, he had no criminal record or history of violence, he didn’t drink alcohol and he wasn’t on drugs. He was a young Sechelt businessman, from a family that’s been on the Sunshine Coast for five generations, and he was following his regular Thursday routine in the city.
Next thing he’s in “an altercation” with up to 10 Vancouver police officers in a secluded area across Boundary Road in Burnaby. Then Myles is dead.
And the parents are told nothing – not even the cause of death.
We understand that investigations are complex, but when a homicide occurs – and this was apparently a homicide – the family of the victim has a right to know the most obvious details. They should at least be told the cause of death and results of the autopsy. They should also be given some accounting of the initial complaint, the police response and the officers’ version of how the situation escalated.
Vancouver police did report that after the incident six of their officers were taken to hospital, two with “significant injuries.” But they did not say whether any of those injuries were the result of the “chemical agents” they had tried using to subdue Myles Gray – in other words, did they pepper-spray or otherwise injure each other? The family has a right to know that also, because the assumption is that it was Myles who caused the injuries.
Finally, the family deserves to know why all of the officers involved remain on regular duty. Someone has made a determination here. What information was it based on?
We deeply respect the role and the work of police in our community, but an incident like this can only fuel the widespread distrust for law enforcement that crosses all jurisdictional lines these days.
In an incident like this, official silence should not be an option
