Mother of man in VPD beating death wants truth without ‘institutional protection’

Margaret Gray, right, hugs her sister Shelley Reed as she arrives for the first day of a coroner's inquest into the beating death of her son, Myles Gray, who died following a confrontation with several police officers in 2015, in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, April 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The mother of Myles Gray, who died after a beating by Vancouver Police officers more than a decade ago, says she wants the full truth to come out about what happened to her son at a public hearing that begins on Monday.

“I want the truth — fully, publicly and without institutional protection,” Margaret Gray said in a statement Friday ahead of the 10-week hearing ordered by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner of British Columbia.

“This inquiry is about how my son died, why accountability failed, and what must change so no other family has to live through this,” the statement said.

Gray said she wants to see changes to prevent such a death from happening again.

Myles Gray was 33 when he died after a beating by officers in August 2015 that left him with injuries including ruptured testicles and fractures to his eye socket, nose, voice box and rib.

A police discipline authority cleared seven Vancouver officers of wrongdoing in October 2024.

But police complaint commissioner Prabhu Rajan has said there was still “meaningful uncertainty as to what happened.”

A coroner’s inquest had earlier found Gray died by homicide, although coroner Larry Marzinzik told the jury the term is neutral and does not imply fault or blame.

Margaret Gray is slated to be the first witness at the hearing in Vancouver. A tentative witness schedule includes names of others set to give evidence, including witness police officers who attended the scene, paramedics, a pathologist, and representatives from the Vancouver Police Union.

Rajan called the hearing after a request from the Gray family.

“This hearing is necessary in order to allow for the testing of all relevant evidence and fully understand what occurred on that tragic day in determining whether any of the members committed misconduct,” Rajan said in a statement this week.

Brian Smith, general counsel for the commissioner’s office, told a media briefing on Thursday that the officers involved in Gray’s death can’t be compelled to testify at the hearing and it’s unknown if they will choose to do so.

This report by Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press, was first published Jan. 16, 2025.