Vancouver police committed to improving crisis response after inquest into Myles Gray homicide, chief says

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The Vancouver Police chief says his department is committed to improving the way it teaches officers to calm tensions with people experiencing a mental-health crisis, after two recommendations made by a coroner’s inquest into the 2015 homicide of an unarmed man.

Chief Constable Adam Palmer released a statement on social media Tuesday afternoon extending his department’s condolences to the family and friends of Myles Gray and reiterating his force’s commitment to giving all officers the “most up-to-date training on crisis de-escalation and mental health.”

One of the inquest jury’s three recommendations centred around the need for the Vancouver Police Department to add more in-person training to improve the way it teaches officers to de-escalate situations like the 2015 interaction with Mr. Gray and “contain” people experiencing mental-health crises. Another recommendation called on the department to speed up its plan to equip officers with body cameras.

Chief Palmer’s statement said these two recommendations are being reviewed and build on “processes that are currently in place or substantially underway.”

The VPD did not respond to a request Tuesday to comment on the findings of the inquest.

Inquest testimony from those who tried to arrest Mr. Gray – a muscular and goofy entrepreneur whose family said may have been experiencing a manic episode that day – illustrated how officers did not calm the situation down. As backup arrived, the scene grew more chaotic, culminating in Mr. Gray’s death, which the jury designated as being caused by injuries intentionally inflicted upon him. The decision confers no blame.

The inquest heard that all the officers who used force on Mr. Gray would have had to complete the provincially mandated crisis intervention and de-escalation training course and do a refresher course every three years.

The jury heard that – initially – a shirtless and distraught Mr. Gray greeted the first Vancouver constable to arrive casually as she parked her police wagon nearby and then calmly complied as she asked him to take a seat on the concrete slab he was standing on.

Immediately after that their rapport ended and police soon used violence to get him to obey their commands to submit, according to testimony from Constable Hardeep Sahota.

Constable Sahota testified that soon after she engaged with Mr. Gray on that hot August afternoon, she told the 33-year-old she was a police officer and she had received a call about him causing a disturbance down the street with a gardening hose. At that point, he stood up, clenched his fists and gave her a “1,000-yard stare.”

“He said, ‘You’re here to make sure I’m okay? Are you okay?’” testified Constable Sahota, who added she became afraid he would strike her at that point. “He then asked me, ‘What is your name?’... So I responded ‘Mine? [Badge number] 2801 … Hardeep, 2801.’ He responded ‘2801?′ I said, ‘Yes, 2801.’ ”

Michael Massine, who helped create the provincial police course on de-escalation mandated by the Braidwood Inquiry into the 2007 tasering death of Robert Dziekanski, testified that officers should always use their first names and not refer to their rank or position in the department as they try to converse in a friendly manner.

The inquest heard Mr. Gray later ran to a nearby backyard and turned to say to her, “Welcome to the jungle.” Eventually, she testified, two colleagues arrived and they pursued Mr. Gray to the secluded yard – a scene the trio all characterized as chaotic without anyone leading their actions in the moment.

The jury recommendation asks the VPD to clearly define how officers determine who is in charge when multiple constables respond to the same crisis call at once.

When Mr. Gray failed to heed an immediate command to get down on his knees, Constable Sahota testified, he was pepper-sprayed by one of her colleagues, who now teaches how to properly deploy force within their department. At that moment, she and the other officer moved in to try to handcuff a dazed Mr. Gray – starting a violent skirmish that ended with his death minutes later.

She and six of her co-workers are facing professional misconduct allegations they abused their authority by using unnecessary force.

Margie Reed, Mr. Gray’s mother who watched all 11 days of the inquest, said that even after officers struck and then pinned her son under a massive rhododendron bush, there was a clear opportunity to de-escalate the situation when – during a break in the fighting – he asked for a drink of water.

“That was the perfect opportunity to actually engage him as a human and talk to him,” she said.