‘Troubled’ counsel for OPCC resigns from Myles Gray hearing over obscenity

VANCOUVER — A long-awaited public hearing into the police-involved death of Myles Gray that finally got underway in Vancouver last week is in peril of major delays after the counsel for the proceeding resigned on Monday with “almost unbearable regret” over an extreme obscenity caught on a hot microphone last week.

Richard Neary, the lawyer for Brad Hickford, read a statement by his client saying he was “bewildered and troubled” by the recording of the obscenity that was captured on an audio stream of the hearing in Vancouver last Wednesday.

Hickford, who is now under investigation by the Law Society of B.C., said in his statement that he had “intensely considered” the recording and “turned my mind with grief but acceptance” to the position in which it placed the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which commenced the hearing last week.

He said he believed the “derailing of this public hearing, at this point, is inevitable.”

“Accordingly, I feel duty bound to withdraw as public hearing duty counsel,” his statement said.

Neary had said Friday that Hickford denied uttering the remark, but on Monday he said that while his client still could not recall making it, it was possible he had done so unintentionally.

Adjudicator Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey said the “unfortunate and vulgar” remark appeared to have been directed at either her or a female lawyer representing one of the seven Vancouver officers who have denied wrongdoing in the beating death of Gray.

But she said she had doubts about who said it and she hoped Hickford would be able to resume his duties.

She urged all parties involved to “get over it and get on with it.”

“This hearing is in jeopardy of being adjourned, perhaps to the extent that it will now not finish in the 10 weeks allocated to it, which, practically speaking, means a further delay of approximately 6 to 12 months, given the schedule of counsel involved,” she said.

Arnold-Bailey outlined Hickford’s “extensive preparation” for the hearing, in a role that was “fundamentally important to the continuation of this hearing in the time allocated to it.”

She urged lawyers at the hearing and the police complaint commissioner to facilitate Hickford’s return to his position if he agreed.

The audio stream of Wednesday’s proceeding had captured someone whispering that another person was “stupid” and calling them an obscenity sometimes used to describe a woman.

The hearing has been adjourned until Tuesday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2026.