OTTAWA -- The Ontario government has named a Toronto-based Crown attorney to prosecute the case against an Ottawa police officer charged in the death of a Somali-Canadian man during a confrontation with two constables outside his home last summer.
Philip Perlmutter, of the Justice Prosecutions Unit, is representing the Crown in the matter of Const. Daniel Montsion, who has been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in the July 2016 death of 37-year-old Abdirahman Abdi.
No stranger to cases involving police, Perlmutter successfully a prosecuted Toronto police officer who was convicted in 2013 of assault with a weapon for using excessive force during the arrest of a protester on the lawn of the Ontario legislature during the G20 Summit in 2010.
The court heard today there will also be an out-of-town judge.
A designate from the firm of high-profile defence lawyer Michael Edelson appeared on behalf of Montsion in court, where a pretrial was set for May 1.
The Special Investigations Unit, a civilian oversight body that investigates deaths, serious injuries and sexual assaults involving police in Ontario, says Montsion was one of two officers involved in an altercation in Ottawa with Abdi, who lost vital signs during the confrontation before he was pronounced dead in hospital the next day.
