More than 10 years after Myles Gray died in a Burnaby backyard after a violent confrontation with Vancouver police, the public can now hear what transpired directly from the officers involved. Audio of interviews by the Independent Investigations Office and an RCMP officer charged with conducting a Police Act investigation was played at a public hearing into Gray’s death. Const. Hardeep Sahota, a Vancouver Police Department officer working alone that day, first encountered Gray while responding to a call about a disturbance in South Vancouver. By the time she arrived, Gray had crossed Boundary Road into a Burnaby neighbourhood. The 33-year-old was in mental distress, and Sahota told investigators he was aggressive to the point she immediately felt unsafe and called for backup. Responding officers also said Gray was aggressive towards them and wanted to fight when confronted in the backyard. “He squared up to us and the fight was on. I was extremely scared at that point, and I knew it was a fight for my life,” Const. Kory Folkestad said in an interview with the Independent Investigations Office. In all, seven officers took part in the takedown, and by the time it was over, Gray was dead. His injuries included ruptured testicles, along with fractures to his nose, orbital bone and larynx. Several of the officers told investigators they were gathered for a debrief on the seventh floor of the VPD headquarters on Cambie Street in the hours after Gray’s death. They said that’s when Vancouver Police Union representatives told them not to take notes about what happened. The hearing heard portions of an interview with Const. Josh Wong, which was conducted by RCMP Sgt. Robert Nash. “I got out my notebook, got my pen out. I was about to write handwritten notes, and I was told specifically, ‘Don’t write them.’” Wong told Nash. “Do you recall who told you not to write any notes?” Nash asked. “It was a union agent. And I don’t recall which one because there was a handful of them there,” Wong answered. One officer told investigators VPD superiors relayed the union message before they had even left the scene that day. “It was a union directive, and it would make sense it came from Sgt. Sidhu,” Const. Nick Thompson said in his interview with Nash. The hearing has already heard Thompson cut his head on a low-hanging tree branch during the brawl with Gray. “OK, do you think that direction maybe came at the debrief?” Nash asked. “Oh, that came when I was in the ambulance,” Thompson replied. He told Nash the directive was later reiterated to him by union representatives at the debrief. “Who said what I can’t remember. It was just kind of reinforced to us from the union that because this is an IIO investigation,” Thompson said. “I guess they were concerned about criminal jeopardy.” Police in Canada have a duty to record notes as soon as possible, and the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled officers involved in serious incidents cannot consult with a lawyer before doing so. “You have that duty. And if a union person is directing someone not to do it, that’s of great concern because the public is going to lose the best evidence,” said Ian Donaldson, a lawyer for the Gray family. Then-union-president Tom Stamatakis is scheduled to testify at the hearing on Monday. “You mentioned that a union rep directed you not to take notes. Do you recall who that was?” a Police Act investigator asked Const. Derek Cain. “I believe it was our union president at the time, Tom Stamatakis,” Cain responded. Each of the officers eventually uploaded statements to the police database, but they took up to six months to do so in some cases. Many of the officers say they typed the statements into Microsoft Word documents and then cut and pasted the text into the police database, which is not standard practice. It means there is no record of when each file was actually created and whether any changes were made before it was submitted. Most of the officers told Nash they could not produce the original Word documents. The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner ordered the public hearing to determine if any of the officers breached the Police Act by using unnecessary force or failing to take notes as they are obligated to do. Each of the seven officers could face discipline up to and including dismissal from the force.
