Vancouver officer tells Myles Gray’s family his ‘tragic’ death was not intended

Spencer is among seven Vancouver officers under investigation by British Columbia’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which called the hearing over whether they committed misconduct during the confrontation that ended with Gray’s death or neglected their duties by failing to take notes in the immediate aftermath.

They have all denied wrongdoing.

Spencer, testifying for a second day, said Gray was the strongest man he had ever encountered in 15 years of policing, and the incident was “biggest moment” of his life.

“It was very traumatizing to me,” he said, adding that when he now saw someone who looked like Gray it would “bring me back to that moment … it constantly stays with me.”

Spencer said his involvement began while he and his partner were having ice cream at a Dairy Queen, when they heard an “unnerving” call for assistance from a colleague who encountered Gray on a residential street in Burnaby, near the Vancouver boundary.

The hearing was told earlier that Const. Hardeep Sahota had retreated to her vehicle, away from Gray, when she radioed for help.

Spencer said he knew Sahota and her tone of voice on the call raised immediate concern, while an “animalistic roar” he later heard as he and his partner headed to the scene was like nothing he had ever heard on a police radio.

Spencer, whose lawyer said he was over six feet tall and weighed more than 90 kilograms, or about 200 pounds, said that when he arrived he found other officers who appeared to be “exhausted” as they struggled to subdue Gray.

Spencer testified that for the first time in his career he felt physically unable to restrain someone as he and another officer, Const. Joshua Wong, tried unsuccessfully to get Gray’s arm behind his back to apply handcuffs and make sure he did not have a weapon.

“I needed to up my level of force,” Spencer said. He recalled delivering three or four “closed-fist strikes” as hard as he could to Gray’s right shoulder while pulling on the man’s wrist with his other hand.

“Each time there was nothing … (his arm) was not moving at all which was incredibly concerning for me,” Spencer said, given his and Wong’s size and strength.

“This was the strongest man I’d dealt with at that point and the strongest man I’ve dealt with” in 15 years of policing, he said.

Spencer said he held onto Gray’s arm “with all my might.”

No charges have been laid over Gray’s death, which a 2023 coroner’s inquest ruled was a homicide, a term that does not assign legal blame.

The commissioner’s notice of public hearing said an earlier disciplinary process had dismissed misconduct allegations, but the discipline authority found the process “strangely lopsided” and had to decide the case despite “discrepancies and inconsistencies in statements made by (Vancouver Police Department) members.”

The earlier inquest heard Gray was left with injuries that included a fractured eye socket, crushed voice box and ruptured testicles, while a paramedic said Gray’s bruising was so severe, he initially thought Gray was not a white man.

Spencer told the hearing on Friday that Gray passed out, but when he came to he exhibited a “crazy change of behaviour.”

“He looked at me and said ‘what’s going on,'” Spencer said, adding the moment of apparent lucidity from Gray gave the officer an immediate sense of relief.

Spencer recalled telling Gray he had been involved in a fight with officers and an ambulance was on the way. Gray was like someone in “the dead of sleep” who had woken up and said “where am I,” he said.

But the moment only lasted seconds, before Gray went into a “rage” again, throwing the officer onto his back and “manhandling” him despite the officer’s larger stature, Spencer said.

When Gray fell unconscious a second time “he went from pure strength, pure power, to no flex in his muscles,” and going limp, Spencer said.

That was when Spencer said he stepped back from the scene.

“I was not a person I believed could help in a medical sense,” thinking he would be in the way, he said.

Gray died at the scene, which was by then attended by paramedics and firefighters.

Spencer said he was in a state of “shock or disbelief” at what had occurred, as officers involved in the arrest were called to meet at Vancouver police headquarters on Cambie Street that day.

There, he said he found out he was under investigation by B.C.’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigations Office, and the officers met union representatives.

A moment “soaked in” when one or more union representatives told him “don’t write anything down, don’t write notes, we will tell you when to write something,” he said.

“I thought it was odd,” Spencer said, although he believed it made sense in the context of not having legal representation.

He later wrote a statement on his personal laptop before it was entered into the police data system Prime around March 2016. He said he did not consult other officers.

The ongoing public hearing started in January but has experienced repeated delays.

Const. Eric Birzneck was the first of the seven officers to testify earlier this week.

He likened Gray’s strength to “the Hulk” and said the man appeared “impervious to pain” as police tried to subdue him.

Adjudicator Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey has adjourned the hearing until Nov. 16.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2026.

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Vancouver officer tells Myles Gray’s family his ‘tragic’ death was not intended

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