2 Vancouver police officers facing assault charges

Two Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers have been charged with assault for an incident that took place last year.

Court records show officers Brian Hunt and Joshua Wong are both facing an assault charge for an offence on Dec. 16, 2023.

The VPD says in a statement that it was “made aware of an incident” involving two of its officers.

“The OPCC was immediately notified and New Westminster Police Department conducted a criminal investigation,” Const. Tania Visintin said in an email to 1130 NewsRadio.

“Yesterday, the BC Prosecution Service approved charges. Neither officer is currently serving in an operational role. Further inquiries can be directed to Crown given that the matter is before the courts.”

Wong was one of the police officers involved in the arrest before the death of 33-year-old Myles Gray in 2015.

Last April, Wong testified in court that he had witnessed Gray’s death and was told by another officer not to take notes during the arrest.

Wong said he saw Gray as a violent and dangerous person who was assaulting police officers and needed to be controlled immediately.

Wong was in uniform and told Gray he was a police officer, but he testified that he didn’t think Gray “understood who we were or why we were there.”

Wong told the jury he had no recollection of Gray being handcuffed, but he remembers another officer yelling that no one should put pressure on Gray’s upper body, head, or neck as he lay on his stomach with cuffs on behind his back. 

A lawyer for Gray’s family, Ian Donaldson, suggested to Wong that he “took part in this beating that led to this man’s death.”

Wong replied that he was “only thinking of my own safety at the time.”

Hunt and Wong are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 18.

—With files from The Canadian Press.