5 days Ago By CP24
The family of an Ottawa man who died after a violent arrest says they hope a coroner’s inquest into his death will bring positive change, as the jury heard final submissions from lawyers Monday after weeks of testimony from experts and several key witnesses in the case. Jurors at the inquest examining what happened to 38-year-old Abdirahman Abdi in July 2016 are now considering recommendations put forward collectively by lawyers, community organizations and other parties. Based on the evidence presented at the inquest, the jury will also determine the manner of Abdi’s death.
Abdi died after police responded to a 911 call reporting that a man was groping women outside a coffee shop in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood. The inquest, which began last month, has heard that Abdi appeared to be in a mental health crisis at the time. It has also heard about Ottawa police training and de-escalation practices, mental health strategies in policing, and data on police use-of-force incidents involving racialized people.
“While it will be difficult, our hope is that positive change will come from this inquest, and that Abdirahman’s death will have been meaningful,” Abdi’s family said in a statement through their lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, at the inquest on Monday. “What happened to our beloved brother could have been prevented. We sincerely hope that no other family has to go through this in the future.
” An Ontario judge found Ottawa police Const. Daniel Montsion not guilty of manslaughter and other charges in October 2020, ruling that the prosecution hadn’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the blows Abdi suffered during the arrest resulted in his death. Montsion, who testified at the coroner’s inquest last month, said that deciding whether to use force during an arrest didn’t take into account a person’s mental health and that he was trying to control Abdi before taking him into custody.
The inquest, which is mandatory under the law because Abdi was injured while in police custody, has also heard from another police officer involved in the arrest, Ottawa police Deputy Chief Steven Bell and experts on police use of force, among others. Bell told the inquest on Friday that Ottawa police has made changes in its practices in the years since Abdi’s death, including improving training on de-escalation, adding more training for dispatchers, and creating more tools to access information on mental health. Still, Bell said the force has “much more work to do.
” In his closing statement, Greenspon told the jury their decisions could help prevent future deaths. He also urged the jury to consider a recommendation that would see inquests into similar deaths be held “as expeditiously as possible.” “Eight years is an inordinately long time for a bereaved family to have the loss of their loved one before the public eye.
There is, despite claims to the contrary, no closure resulting from this or any other proceeding,” Greenspon said. “Yet there ought to be a set time frame beyond which the family does not have to publicly relive the loss of their loved one.” Anita Szigeti, a lawyer for the Empowerment Council, a mental health advocacy organization, told the inquest in her final submission that one of the proposed recommendations would see an expansion of community-based crisis intervention programs in the province.
“Every time someone dies at the hands of police, entire communities are traumatized,” Szigeti said. “The death of Abdirahman Abdi, like all such deaths of individuals in crisis who died during their interactions with police, was a profound tragedy, but that day was also a turning point for the City of Ottawa.” A spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Coroner said in a statement that jury deliberations on recommendations to avoid similar deaths in the future are expected to continue on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2024. Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press.
