Ottawa cop accused of murdering Somali-Canadian nears trial amidst heightened racial climate

As unrest continues throughout America as a result of the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, the city of Ottawa is bracing itself for the conclusion in a similar case involving the murder of a black man at the hands of its police force.

Abdirahman Abdi was killed in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood on July 24, 2016, after a violent arrest by two Ottawa Police officers. The officer charged with his death will be back in court on July 6 as the Crown and defence make their case for the last time in a three-day hearing. The case was set to resume in April but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Montsion will be facing a judge-only trial.

Montsion will be prosecuted at trial by Toronto-based Crown attorneys Philip Perlmutter and Roger Shallow. For his defence, Montsion procured the services of superstar criminal defence attorney Michael Edelson, who has defended several Ottawa police officers in similar high-profile cases.

Abdi, who was described by his family as someone with mental health issues, was being pursued by police after they received a call about an alleged groping at a local coffee shop. When the police arrived, Abdi fled about three blocks before police caught up with him in front of his apartment building.

Const. Daniel Montsion is on trial for manslaughter, aggravated assault, and assault with a weapon – a pair of assault gloves with reinforced knuckles – while the other is a witness in his murder trial.

Like Floyd, Abdi was also pinned down to the ground by police. Like Floyd, his death was captured on video by shocked onlookers armed with cell-phone cameras.

The video shows Const. Dave Weir, the first officer to respond to the disturbance call, repeatedly striking Abdi before Montison arrives and both officers push Abdi to the ground.

Montsion is then seen hitting Abdi in the head and legs before he is handcuffed. After a few minutes, his body goes limp as he loses consciousness. By the time paramedics arrived on the scene seven minutes later, Abdi had no vital signs.

Abdirahman suffered multiple bone fractures and Ottawa’s chief pathologist, Dr Christopher Milroy, testified that it was more violent than what is typically associated with punches. While being arrested, Abdi suffered a heart attack, and his official cause of death was hypoxic brain damage – which occurs when the brain is starved of oxygen.

Abdirahman’s death exasperated the rift between the Ottawa Police and the city’s racialized community. In a city where black and middle eastern drivers are up to three times more likely to be stopped by police, the irony that some police officers would wear blue and black wristbands to show solidarity with the officer involved was not lost on many. The traffic data was collected to settle a human rights complaint alleging racism in the department.

Const. Dave Weir, left, and Const. Daniel Montsion, centre, are seen kneeling by Abdirahman Abdi outside his apartment building on Hilda Street. (YouTube)

Montsion has been suspended with pay  – assigned to desk duty- since charges were laid on March 6, 2017, nearly eight months after Abdirahman Abdi’s death. Since that fiscal year, he has earned 347,739.32‬ in pay through taxpayers dollars.

On Monday, Ottawa’s police chief Peter Sloly acknowledged the overt racism prevalent in the department and vowed the entire organization would undergo remediation. His words came as a member of the service has been charged with created and disseminating a racist meme that was widely shared by current and retired officers.

The meme in question was a collage depicting 13 officers, almost all of whom are men of colour, and included the phrase: “Ottawa Police Service — We’re always hiring…anyone.”

“The entire organization failed in this enterprise, and that is why the entire organization is going through remediation,” he said.

Ottawa’s mayor Jim Watson posted a verbose thread on Twitter on Tuesday speaking out against the murder of George Floyd and inequality in his city.

“[W]hile the death of Mr Floyd has focused most attention on the United States, we know that as a country, we are not immune to racism, or racist behaviour, and we are far from perfect,” Watson said. “Racism is present in our midst.”

In the ten-thread post, he did not mention or invoke the memory of his constituent Abdirahman Abdi once. Twitter users pointed out that after Abdi’s death, he decided to stay on vacation and did not release a statement for a full two days. Watson announced that he would be attending the “No Peace Until Justice” demonstration, planned for Friday afternoon at the U.S. embassy.

Next month, after more than 70 days and 21 witnesses, Ontario Court Justice Robert Kelly will decide whether Const. Daniel Montsion showed a “wanton, reckless disregard” for Abdi’s life as the Crown alleges or whether, as is often the case, Montsion is found to have acted “reasonably and proportionally” after being “thrust into a dynamic, violent and unpredictable situation” as his defence lawyers recounted.

His decision will be compounded by the racial climate in the wake of brutal police killings across the U.S. and will be watched closely by in Ottawa and beyond as a litmus test for racial justice.

The Justice for Abdirahman Coalition, an Ottawa-based group advocating for justice for the group’s namesake and his family say that George Floyd’s death is an opportunity for Canadians to look inward at racism in their backyard.

Demonstrators march from Somerset Square Park to Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street during the March for Justice – In Memory of Abdirahman Abdi. Saturday, July 30, 2016. James Park /Postmedia

“The tragic deaths of Abdirahman Abdi, George Floyd and countless others are clear indications that systemic racism is alive on both sides of the Canada-US border. Canadian officials from local policing to provincial decision-makers and federal leaders need to take a close look in the mirror before looking down at their American counterparts.”

The organization whose stated goals include obtaining greater transparency in policing and challenging racial inequity say that lawmakers can reinstate key clauses centered around police accountability and transparency that previous drafts on police legislation included.

“In Ottawa, public officials hid behind grey laws and policies and claimed their hands were tied to take any decisive action on Abdirahman’s death. As an advocacy group, we focused our efforts on much needed legislative reforms. Following nearly two years of advocacy, we eventually made a technical submission to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy concerning a pending Bill that was set to change direction in policing that would release the shackles that officials like Police chiefs claimed stopped them from removing officers like Montsion. “

The group added that their work was undone by Doug Ford’s incoming Conservative government.

“Bill 175, The Safer Ontario Act, was voted on and passed in the Ontario legislature on March 8, 2018. It was set to come into force on June 28, 2018. Sadly this day never came as the incoming government quickly rolled back the legislation undoing years of effort to build accountability and transparency in policing and introduced new legislation that favoured the status quo: the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, ironically referred to as the ‘COPS’ Act”

“…This would be a true act of justice and not just lip service polluting the airwaves and rolling through social media with fake claims of anti-racism and solidarity.”