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

Spencer said he knew Const. Hardeep Sahota and her tone of voice on the radio 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.

He is among seven Vancouver officers facing a public hearing set off by B.C.‘s Police Complaint Commissioner into whether they committed misconduct during the confrontation, which ended with Gray’s death.

They have all denied wrongdoing.

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

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 under him.

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

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

“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,” once he got it out from under him.

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 that Gray passed out, but when he came to exhibited a “crazy change of behaviour.”

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

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

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

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,” believing he would be in the way, he said.

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

The ongoing hearing by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner started in January but has experienced repeated delays.

The hearing heard earlier this week from Const. Eric Birzneck, the first of the officers to testify.

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

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