Paramedic tells inquest he misjudged Myles Gray's race because of severe bruising after police fight

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

A specialized life-support paramedic who tried to resuscitate the unarmed man who died after being beaten by multiple Vancouver police officers nearly eight years ago has testified the bruising on the man's skin was so severe he was initially confused about the patient's race.

Stephen Shipman told a coroner's inquest on Tuesday that it took two attempts to intubate Myles Gray, 33, after he stopped breathing because his airway was swollen after the fight in a Burnaby, B.C., backyard in 2015.

"He was beaten pretty bad," said Shipman. "I'm not trying to be rude, but ... I didn't think he was a white guy. The first couple of looks I had on him were quite, like 'Wow, this guy has dark skin,' but it wasn't the dark skin. It was the bruising."

Shipman's testimony and that of other paramedics were in contrast to earlier evidence from several police officers who said they couldn't recall any visible injuries or blood on Gray.

Two paramedics who gave evidence before Shipman became emotional recalling the case.

"There's certain calls that leave a mark on you, or you just have a hard time forgetting ... a little bit like a scar," said Ross Mathieson, who was a paramedic for more than 35 years before retiring.

"There was that [officer's expression], and a man lost his life," he said, asked Tuesday why he had teared up. "Both."

Shipman said he responded to the scene after police requested an advanced life-support unit to sedate a patient. Police had voiced concern over their radios that Gray would continue to resist arrest if he regained consciousness, the inquest previously heard.

Gray went into cardiac arrest before Shipman arrived at the property on Joffre Avenue near Marine Drive.

He died at the scene.

Police delayed firefighters' access to Gray, crew testifies

Earlier Tuesday, four firefighters who were first on the scene from the Burnaby Fire Department told the inquest police delayed first responders' access to the scene.

Retired Capt. John Campbell testified that police told them to wait after the fire engine arrived. Another firefighter said an officer took them up to the yard, only to have the police who were with Gray turn them down.

"The officer that led us up to the top of the stairs announced to everyone on scene at the location that fire was here to assess the patient, and the response from one of the officers was, 'Fire will not be assessing this patient at the present time because he's still combative,'" said Lt. Young Lee.

"So, we were told to not assess the patient ... we pretty much sat at the top of the stairs while the officers and the patient were on the ground, and there was a struggle going on."

Lee said he said he could see Gray lying on his stomach, handcuffed, struggling against an officer on his head or neck, another on top of his torso, a third on his legs and a fourth holding the hobble tying his legs together. 

"At any time, were you concerned that Mr. Gray could not breathe as the result of a police officer holding his head down to the ground?" a juror later asked.

"Yes," Lee said.

"I think with anyone being in that condition underneath three guys, three people, and struggling — I would always have a concern for [that] possibility."

Campbell said he understood the officer's instruction, or wait order, meant Gray wasn't under control. He told the inquest officer assured him that police would monitor Gray.

Campbell added it's not uncommon for police to tell first responders to wait at a distance until a scene is safe.

The former captain said police first asked firefighters to tend to two officers, one of whom was bleeding after a tree branch cut his forehead and the other who'd been hit in the jaw.

Campbell, Lee, as well as firefighters Scott Frizzell and Travis Nagata, said Gray had visible bruising and blood on his face. Three said the man's injuries included two black eyes, which were referred to as "raccoon eyes."

"He was well restrained at the time I saw him," said Frizzell.

An investigation report obtained by CBC News earlier this month said two of the four firefighters remembered Gray as still resisting arrest when they were told not to approach him after arriving, but the other two said Gray was lying motionless before police turned him on his back and realized he wasn't breathing.

The 278-page final report, written as part of a separate investigation into police conduct, said all four firefighters reported seeing several officers holding Gray down while his arms were handcuffed and his legs were hobbled.

Campbell said police took off the handcuffs, rolled Gray onto his back and started chest compressions when Gray suddenly stopped moving. He said firefighters and paramedics took over to start CPR.

Shipman said he had a 92 per cent success rate on the first attempt with intubating patients or inserting a tube to open an airway, but Gray's case was "difficult because it was unusual anatomy due to swelling."

The fire captain said first responders tried to revive Gray for roughly 40 minutes before he was pronounced dead. His injuries, which were too extensive for experts to determine a specific cause of death, included a broken eye socket, brain hemorrhaging and ruptured testicles.

The third paramedic who took the stand, Jeff Huchinson, said Tuesday police were "protective" over the scene and reluctant to provide details to paramedics who were asking about the fight as a way to inform treatment.

Shipman said he could not recall how many times he asked police for information.

"I remember asking, and I remember getting a response," he said.

14 officers testify during first week of inquest

Fourteen police officers who testified during the inquest have used similar language to describe Gray's behaviour toward police during the struggle to restrain him.

They said Gray was aggressive, threatening, showing "superhuman" strength and appearing to be in an "animalistic" state — sweating, growling or roaring at officers with words they couldn't understand.

They also said Gray did not appear to "feel pain" and continued resisting after being pepper-sprayed, punched, kneed, kicked, struck with batons and placed in a chokehold.

Gray had been in Vancouver making a delivery to a florist's supply shop as part of his Sechelt, B.C.-based business operations. The inquest has heard recordings from initial 911 calls reporting that an agitated man had sprayed a woman with a garden hose outside her home on Marine Drive.

Four police officers told the inquest they believed Gray was experiencing a condition called "excited delirium," a term describing a state of agitation and cited as an explanation for sudden, unexpected deaths during interactions with police.

Last week, presiding coroner Larry Marzinzik provided the jury with what he called a "cautionary note'' about the term.

He said, to his knowledge, most pathologists don't recognize the term as a cause of death. The coroner asked the jury to put less weight on evidence from a layperson, like an officer.

A medical expert will speak to the term later in the inquest, as will personnel from B.C.'s police watchdog. 

A coroner's inquest does not make findings of legal responsibility, but the jury will make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future.