The sister of a man who was beaten by Vancouver police in 2015 says she believes her brother was suffering a mental health crisis the day he died.
Melissa Gray is the first person to testify in the coroner’s inquest into Myles Gray’s death, which began Monday (April 17). The 33-year-old died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 13, 2015, after a confrontation with seven Vancouver police officers left him with a fractured eye socket, a partially dislocated jaw and multiple other injuries.
Melissa said her brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in high school, but he was manic-free for about 15 years before his death. The only time Melissa recalls her brother acting erratically was one day around 2000 when Gray suddenly believed he was a member of the Wu Tang Clan and jumped on top of their mother’s car.
“He was delusional, it was horrible,” Melissa told the jury.
She said their father managed to get Gray to hospital, where he was stabilized and given medication.
Still, most of Melissa’s memories of her brother have nothing to do with his mental health. She described him as curious, goofy, kind and loyal — the kind of guy who was always surrounded by friends and made people laugh.
“He’s my idol, my barometer for all things cool.”
The two played video games together and watched shows like Saved by the Bell and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Gray played hockey and basketball in high school, switched to carpentry after graduation, and then took over his uncle’s wholesale florist business on the Sunshine Coast.
Melissa recalled that Gray always carried containers of chicken and rice with him and said he also really enjoyed working out.
The jury heard on Monday that some of the blame involved Gray’s use of testosterone.
His family physician, Dr. Christoffel Mentz-Serfontein, testified that he met Gray in September 2014 to discuss his higher-than-normal hemoglobin levels — a common side effect of excess testosterone. Mentz-Serfontein said he learned that Gray was injecting himself with about 121 milligrams of presumed black-market steroids per week.
“It was a big dose,” the doctor testified.
He said he recommended that Gray stop taking testosterone, explaining to the jury on Monday that excess hormones can derange people with mood diagnoses such as bipolar disorder.
Appointment notes from a Mentz-Serfontein colleague from the last time Gray visited the clinic in April 2015 indicated he was still taking a dose of testosterone.
Mentz-Serfontein briefed the jury on Monday on all of Gray’s appointments between 2010 and 2015, noting he had no major health problems before his death but had mentioned to doctors that he experienced brief periods of depression and emotional ups and downs.
Gray is taking quetiapine, an antipsychotic drug often used by people with bipolar disorder, but Mentz-Serfontein said Gray is taking it to help with insomnia. In fact, Mentz-Serfontein recalled, in the years leading up to Gray’s death, he did not take any medications specifically for mood regulation, although a fellow physician did prescribe one in February 2014.
However, Menz-Serfontein said it wasn’t a major concern for doctors at the clinic Gray saw. According to the appointment notes, he said all doctors determined Gray was mentally stable.
According to witnesses on Monday, the first real sign that the 33-year-old might not be doing well came weeks before his death in the summer of 2015, when Melissa said she noticed her brother behaving slightly There are different.
Melissa, a registered psychiatric nurse, described Gray’s behavior to the jury as “hypomania,” a milder form of mania when someone has more energy than usual.
The coroner’s investigation is scheduled to run until April 28. The task of the jury is not to hold accountable, but to establish the relevant facts of Gray’s death and make recommendations to prevent similar incidents in the future.
None of the officers involved has been criminally charged.
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