Family upset with long investigation into son’s death
Myles Gray, 33, was killed 19 months ago in an altercation with Vancouver police
Myles Gray has been dead for 19 months and his family is still waiting for B.C.’s independent police watchdog to wrap up its investigation into Vancouver police officers’ role in the injuries that killed him.
It’s not the longest-running case at the Independent Investigations Office — that would be 29 months and counting for the October 2014 police shooting death of Peter DeGroot in Slocan. Investigations now take an average of 12 and a half to 13 months to wrap up.
But a year and a half is a long time for a grieving family to wait for answers. Myles’ mother, Margie Gray, said she’s frustrated by the lack of communication and frequent turnover of staff dedicated to the case.
“They definitely have in-house problems that needed to be sorted out,” Margie said.
Myles was 33 when he died in an altercation with as many as six Vancouver police officers on Aug. 15, 2015. The Sechelt business owner was unarmed and had no criminal record or history of mental illness.
In search of answers, Margie and her husband Mark made the trip last week to Victoria, where they met with an assistant deputy minister of justice, who “listened to their concerns,” according to a ministry spokesperson.
But from the Grays’ point of view the two sides have very different impressions of how the investigation is going.
“They seem to think that everything is running smoothly, when we live on this side of this fence and we know it’s not,” Margie said.
In the time since Myles was killed, three family liaison officers and one investigator assigned to his file have left the IIO. Former chief civilian director Richard Rosenthal also stepped down, and told Postmedia News last year that the office needed more resources from the province.
The Grays’ MLA, the NDP’s Nicholas Simons, introduced the couple in the legislature last Wednesday, asking Justice Minister Suzanne Anton what she planned to do to address delays in IIO investigations.
Anton acknowledged the strain on the family, and said “I can assure them that everybody is working very hard to get this investigation done as soon as it can be.” But she fended off Simons’s suggestion that the delay is a result of inadequate funding, saying instead it’s “a question of the complexity of the investigation.”
The IIO now has 50 open cases, including 20 police-related fatalities. Of the 135 investigations the office has closed since 2012, 63 were referred to Crown prosecutors for consideration of charges.
IIO spokesman Marten Youssef said that a heavy caseload can strain resources and stretch out the timeline for investigations, but so can other factors like waiting for results from external labs.
“Sure, more funding would help, but just keep in mind that the problem with cases isn’t always funding,” he said.
He described the investigation into Myles’ death as a complex and challenging one.
“We are currently working to provide the family with an update on the status of the investigation, while not interfering with our primary responsibility to conduct a competent and thorough investigation. While timeliness is a big concern for the IIO, we cannot sacrifice thoroughness as we work to conclude the file,” Youssef wrote in an email.
He added that staff departures have not affected the investigation, and the team director and primary investigator leading the case have not changed.
But at the end of the day, Margie said she has much bigger concerns than waiting for the investigation to wrap up.
“Everybody thinks it’s about the length of the IIO (investigation). No. It’s about why did this happen in the first place. Our son was unarmed. He was working,” she said.
The Grays have also filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against 11 officers, the Vancouver police board and the City of Vancouver, alleging officers had no lawful reason to detain Myles and beat him while he was restrained.
None of the allegations have been proven in court. The city denies liability for Myles’ death.