By The Canadian Press

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

Feb 27, 2026 | 12:47 PM

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 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, but the officer said he doesn’t remember why he wrote what he did, “but nobody was on his back.”

Bowater told the inquiry that if he had seen anyone on Gray’s back, he would have moved them.

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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 shortly after police were called to a complaint of a man who sprayed a woman with water from a garden hose.

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.

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

The Canadian Press