Myles Gray, seen in an undated handout photo, died after suffering injuries including a broken eye socket, possible partially dislocated jaw and a voice box fracture, during his arrest by Vancouver police in 2015. A forensic toxicologist says an initial drug screening report suggested Myles Gray had a natural psychoactive compound in his system when he died, but followup testing showed the low concentration didn't meet the threshold for detection. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Margie Reed **MANDATORY CREDIT**
BURNABY, B.C. – A forensic toxicologist says an initial drug screening report suggested Myles Gray had a natural psychoactive compound in his system when he died, but followup testing showed the low concentration didn’t meet the threshold for detection.
Aaron Shapiro told the British Columbia coroner’s inquest into Gray’s death that he reviewed the original toxicology report and changed the finding for mitragynine, an extract from an Asian plant known as kratom.
A statement from the BC Prosecution Service in December 2020 announcing its decision not to pursue charges against the officers involved in beating Gray noted that toxicology evidence showed the 33-year-old had ingested kratom, and it may have been a contributing factor in his death.
Shapiro, testifying as an expert witness, said he changed the result to reflect his finding that if the drug was present, it was not at a level that would be considered toxic or lethal.
Gray died in August 2015 shortly after a beating by several Vancouver police officers that left him with injuries including a fractured eye socket, nose and rib, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles.
Shapiro testified that the general screening performed at the time of Gray’s death looked for “well over 200” different drugs with the goal of flagging potential findings, but it should not be used on its own as evidence.
“It just gives you an idea that you might want to look further into it,” said Shapiro, who is the associate scientific director of toxicology at the BC Centre for Disease Control.
He said the general screening for Gray detected THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, but further testing was not completed.
If it had been confirmed, it would have indicated prior cannabis use within a month before Gray’s death, Shapiro said.
The lab also screened for several anabolic steroids, but nothing was confirmed, and it did not have the ability to detect a number of other steroids at the time, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 26, 2023.
