Witness denies Vancouver officers on Myles Gray’s back before his death

VANCOUVER — One of the Vancouver officers who responded to the scene after a man was beaten by police in 2015 faced questioned of discrepancies between notes he took that day and how he describes the situation more than 10 years later.

Const. Chris Bowater told a public hearing Friday that he saw Myles Gray in the “recovery position” on his side, unconscious but breathing.

Under questioning from hearing counsel Brock Martland, Bowater said there were no officers on Gray’s back, however his notes include a reference to Gray regaining consciousness and “lifting members off back”

Martland asked Bowater to explain how Gray could be lifting police off his back if he was in the recovery position on his side.

“At this time, after ten and a half years, I don’t remember why I wrote what I did, but nobody was on his back,” the officer said.

The inquiry, held by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, is looking into the actions of several Vancouver police officers who had a violent encounter with Gray before he died. Police were originally called to a complaint of a man who sprayed a woman with water from a garden hose.

Bowater, who has experience as a paramedic, told the inquiry that if he had seen anyone on Gray’s back in such a way that it would have interfered with his breathing, he would have moved them.

“I did not tell anybody to get off his back because nobody was on his back.”

Bowater told the inquiry on Thursday that Gray began grunting, swearing and spitting, as two officers restrained him.

He said Gray made a “fast twist” out of the officer’s grip and “put himself face down into the grass”

When Gray stopped breathing, Bowater testified that he began chest compressions until he was relieved by a Burnaby firefighter.

Const. Kyle Dent testified Friday that he arrived in the area about two minutes before Gray stopped breathing and that he held his left elbow.

Dent said Gray was on his stomach with two sets of handcuffs and was rocking back and forth and breathing heavily.

He described Gray as “incredibly strong,” and said he had enough strength to lift up even as the officer applied downward pressure.

That went on until it “just abruptly stopped,” he said.

Dent said he couldn’t say with confidence whether any of the other officers on scene were putting pressure on Gray’s head, neck, or upper back.

“I can say when I was looking at his upper body that nobody was on it. But after I left and then held the elbow I didn’t focus on any other body parts until the time that he had to be moved,” he said.

Dent told the inquiry he is familiar with “positional asphyxiation,” where someone can be put in a position where they struggle to breath.

He said if he saw something concerning that day he would have said so or made note of it, but nothing he saw suggested that problem.

A coroner’s inquest in 2023 heard that Gray was left with injuries including a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles.

Other testimony heard on Friday included that of Const. Brian London, who said he arrived on the scene after ambulances were already there.

He said from what he heard broadcast over the police radio on his way, the situation sounded “chaotic” and like “nothing was under control.”

London said when he arrived he saw Const. Kory Folkestad standing by an ambulance appearing to be in a daze and that Folkestad told him he had been punched. He said Const. Nick Thompson was holding a piece of gauze to the top of his head.

London said he walked to where Gray was being held and saw him on his belly on the grass while one officer had a knee “across his bum or thighs.”

He said Gray was “grumbling, growling. I could see he was kicking his feet.”

He told the hearing that he also spent time in an ambulance with Const. Hardeep Sahota and she appeared “quite scared.”

“I believe she either almost started crying or crying a couple of times and she did make a couple statements that she felt like she was going to die,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2026

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press