Vancouver police officer tells inquest he punched Myles Gray as hard as he could

A Vancouver police officer told a British Columbia coroner’s jury Wednesday that he punched Myles Gray in the head as hard as he could several times because he didn’t think anything else would work to subdue the man, other than shooting him.

Const. Kory Folkestad testified on the third day of the inquest into Gray’s death on Aug. 13, 2015, after a beating by several officers that left him with injuries including a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and a ruptured testicle.

Folkestad’s partner, Const. Eric Birzneck, later testified that he had initially talked to Gray in an attempt to de-escalate the situation, but Gray’s demeanour changed.

Gray, 33, put his head down and “he started coming at me,” Birzneck told the inquest.

That’s when Birzneck deployed pepper spray, he said, and a struggle ensued to wrestle the 33-year-old to the ground and apply handcuffs.