'Where's the accountability?' Sister of Myles Gray slams investigation process after officers cleared in his death

More than nine years after her brother was killed during an arrest by Vancouver police officers, Melissa Gray is losing hope that her family will get justice after the officers involved have once again avoided discipline.

"Where's the accountability?” said Gray.

The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner said it was reviewing the decision over the 2015 death of Gray, which was classified as a homicide by a coroner's inquest last year.

A pathologist told the inquest Gray died of cardiopulmonary arrest, complicated by police actions including "neck compression," blunt force injuries, the use of pepper spray and holding Gray on his stomach while his arms were handcuffed behind his back.

The commissioner said in a statement on Thursday that the discipline proceeding under Delta police Chief Neil Dubord found none of the seven officers committed misconduct, and allegations of abuse of authority were not proven.

"It just proved you can essentially murder someone and get away with it,” said Gray.

Her brother Myles, who was 33 at the time, suffered injuries including ruptured testicles and fractures in his eye socket, nose, voice box and ribs.

The initial 911 call on the day he died was about an agitated man who was behaving erratically and who had sprayed a woman with water from a garden hose.

Myles died in the backyard of a home in Burnaby, having been pursued there by Vancouver police after the initial altercation.

The OPCC investigation was suspended for several years pending the outcome of a probe by the Independent Investigations Office, which looks into cases in which people are killed or seriously injured during an interaction with the police.

The IIO eventually submitted a report to the B.C. Prosecution Service in January of 2019, stating that the officers involved may have committed criminal offences.

However, in December of 2020 Crown counsel announced the evidence did not meet its charge approval standard.

The OPCC investigation would resume the following year.

The complaints commissioner said Dubord’s investigation found allegations of neglect of duty – relating to “inadequate documentation” of the incident by police – were also not proven.

"I really didn't think anything was going to change, I'm just a little bit confused as to why they even have these one-sided processes," said Gray.

She questions why active police officers are the ones conducting these investigations.

“They’re going to have (the officers') back,” she said.

The complaints commissioner will now decide whether to seek a further review by a retired judge.

In a statement to CTV News, the Vancouver Police Department said, in part:

“This investigation has taken far too long – almost a decade – and has caused significant stress on everyone involved, and their families.”

“We thank the Delta Police Department for its independent Police Act investigation and analysis of the facts that show all allegations against VPD officers are unsubstantiated. We will now take time to review the findings.”

Following the coroner’s inquest, the department has implemented recommendations like body-worn cameras and enhanced de-escalation training.

Gray, however, isn’t sold that deadly interactions with Vancouver police will be avoided moving forward.

“I 100 per cent believe this will happen again,” she said. “It’s hard to have faith in a system where this is the outcome."

With files from the Canadian Press