Jury classifies Myles Gray’s death as homicide following coroner’s inquest | CBC News

The jury at a coroner’s inquest into the death of Myles Gray has classified his death as a homicide, becoming one of the first official bodies to designate his death as such since he was beaten by multiple Vancouver police officers nearly eight years ago.

The jurors returned its verdict Monday after hearing testimony on Gray’s death from more than 40 witnesses over the course of the inquiry, including the police officers involved in the struggle, firefighters, paramedics, independent investigators, use-of-force trainers, a toxicologist and a forensic pathologist.

Four out of the five jurors were in favour of the verdict.

Coroner’s inquests in B.C. do not make findings of legal responsibility, but the jury was tasked with classifying Gray’s death and making recommendations to prevent similar fatalities.

Gray, 33, died after the struggle with police in 2015. His injuries included ruptured testicles, a broken voice box, a fractured eye socket and widespread bruising.

The jury made three recommendations. The first two called on the Vancouver Police Department to implement the use of body cameras that can record audio for all patrol officers in the city, while the second called for a review of the department’s de-escalation and crisis containment training.

In particular, jurors said police need to review how officers assess people who might be struggling with their mental health.

The third recommendation called on the Provincial Health Services Authority to review its policy around preserving toxicology samples and consider retaining the evidence until all investigations are complete.

A toxicologist told the inquest that samples of Gray’s blood were destroyed long before the inquest in line with standard practice.

More to come.