Inquest into the 2016 death of Abdirahman Abdi in Ottawa begins Monday

Warning: some may find details in this story disturbing

An inquest is underway into the 2016 death of Abdirahman Abdi, who died after an altercation with Ottawa police officers.

The inquiry will examine the circumstances surrounding Abdi's death, and the jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing deaths in the future. The jury must answer five key questions during the inquest, including who died, where and when.

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Approximately 27 witnesses are expected to testify during the 21-day inquest.  

Abdi, 38, died in hospital on July 25, 2016, one day after his arrest by officers from Ottawa police. Officers responded to a call at a Hintonburg coffee shop on July 24, 2016, where a man reportedly groped a woman.

The first day of the inquest on Monday heard from an agreed statement of facts that Abdi "touched, groped and grabbed" at several women at the coffee shop, including outside where he reached into a vehicle with its window down at a light and told the driver "he needed to touch her and grabbed and squeezed her breast two to three times."

The inquest's first witness was Darren Courtney. He's a psychiatrist from Toronto who was visiting Ottawa when he saw Abdi and others outside the coffee shop near a woman who was parking her bike.

"He was thrusting his hips towards her and making bodily contact toward her," Courtney testified. "She was saying 'no' and saying 'you can't touch her there' referring to the child she was with."

During an arrest outside a nearby apartment building, Const. Daniel Montsion struck Abdi several times in the head while wearing knuckle-plated gloves. Montsion was found not guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault, and assault with a weapon in June 2020 following a 72-day trial.

"I think this will answer some questions that we have around the case and hopefully will bring some closure to the family and the community as well," said Ifrah Yusuf, the chair of Justice for Abdirahman coalition.

"Our first responders were aware that Abdirahman has been exhibiting some sort of mental health crisis or showing that he has signs of mental health issues and the fact that he was not treated accordingly and not any matter of…just de-escalation."

A lawsuit by Abdi's family against the Ottawa Police Services Board was settled in 2021, but the details were kept confidential. 

Lawrence Greenspon is one of the lawyers representing Abdi's family and read out a statement on their behalf regarding Abdi's "tragic and unnecessary death" at the start of the inquest on Monday.

The inquest heard Abdi had "much to look forward to" at the time of his death and was going to be a father. His daughter was born about seven months after this death.

The family hopes to see positive change from the inquest but is, "disappointed in a lack of progress made with respect of the implementation by the mental health response strategy by the Ottawa police. We sincerely hope no other family has to go through this in the future," said the statement read by Greenspon.

An inquest into Abdi's death is mandatory under the Coroners Act.  The inquest will be conducted by video conference and can be viewed online. 

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