At a Police Complaint Commissioner hearing into Myles Gray’s 2015 death, Const. Eric Birzneck testified he never used unnecessary force and never lost control during the arrest.
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Const. Eric Birzneck, one of the Vancouver police officers involved in the 2015 arrest of Myles Gray that ended with his death, testified at an Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner hearing that he never used force beyond what was required to control Gray and never lost control of his emotions.
The hearing, which began in January and has been repeatedly delayed, is meant to determine whether Birzneck or six other officers intentionally or recklessly used unnecessary force during the altercation with Gray.
Birzneck told the hearing in Vancouver that he filled out a “subject behaviour officer response” report after the incident to indicate there was no sign Gray would have cooperated with police.
He testified that he checked boxes on the form to reflect “pre-assault cues” displayed by Gray, including a “thousand-yard stare,” clenched fists, non-compliance and spitting.
Birzneck also said Gray showed “incredible strength” and seemed “impervious to pain,” and that his testimony followed a disciplinary process in which no misconduct was found among the officers.
According to the evidence provided in the reporting, no charges have been laid over Gray’s death, and a 2023 coroner’s inquest ruled the death was a homicide, a term that does not assign legal blame.
The inquest was told that Gray was left with serious injuries, including a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles, and that a paramedic initially thought he was not a white man because of how severe the bruising was.
The reporting also states that at least three of the other officers involved in Gray’s deadly arrest are scheduled to testify, including constables Beau Spencer, Nick Thompson and Josh Wong.
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