Monday March 6, 2017
By AEDAN HELMER, SHAAMINI YOGARETNAM
YouTube video screen grab of Const. Daniel Montsion. -
One of the two officers captured on video following the violent arrest of a Somali-Canadian man last summer was charged on Monday with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.
The Special Investigations Unit charged Const. Daniel Montsion on Monday afternoon. The charges come at the completion of a more than seven-months long investigation.
Montsion and Const. Dave Weir were originally designated as subject officers in the SIU’s investigation into an arrest that left Abdirahman Abdi without vital signs and in a pool of his own blood on the pavement outside his Hilda Street apartment building last July.
Weir, however, was later designated as a witness officer as the SIU continued its investigation against Montsion, the Citizen has learned.
The SIU, an arms-length civilian police watchdog, investigates any incidents of serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault involving police. In a Monday afternoon press release, the SIU said Montsion will appear in court on March 29. The agency declined to make any further comment because “the matter is now properly before the courts.”
Abdi died following the violent July 24, 2016 confrontation with Weir and Montsion. A cause of death has not been released.
Abdi’s brother Jama Abdi, told the Citizen Monday afternoon that he can’t discuss the pending charge against an officer involved in his brother’s death. He directed all inquiries to the family’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspan.
Greenspon spoke to reporters in his office Monday afternoon.
He said the investigation has been a long and difficult process for the family, but they are pleased that the investigation has been concluded and they understand that the next step of the process will be a long one, he said.
“They have shown great strength. It’s not something anyone would want to go through. They’re a very proud family, and they continue to weather the storm. They have received a lot of support from family, friends and the community.”
The family will wait for the results of the criminal justice process, but they will also go ahead with a civil case, said Greenspan.
Such a case would have to be started within two years of July 24, 2016, so it is likely it will be started before the criminal justice process is completed. He said the family would be seeking damages for loss of care, guidance and companionship. He declined to say who would be named in the case.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau said he is “not permitted to comment on details with respect to SIU investigations and the ensuing criminal process.
“It is important that we remain patient and respectful of the judicial process that is now underway,” he said.
“What I can say is that the officer involved, like any member of the community going through a similar process, deserves to be treated fairly.”
Bordeleau said he knows Abdi’s death has been “very difficult” on Abdi’s family and on the entire community. He also said Abdi’s death has been tough for the membership of the police force.
Ottawa Police Association president Matt Skof said it will be a difficult time for Montsion to go through the court process.
“Unfortunately, we’re not surprised that the SIU has laid these charges given the amount of attention this case has garnered,” Skof said.
Montsion, being represented by noted defence lawyer Michael Edelson, had no comment to make through his union. Skof expects that since Montsion has now been criminally charged, he will be suspended from active duty. Prior to being charged, Montsion was placed on administrative assignment. Any decision on the workplace assignment of the previously designated subject officer Weir will be decided on by Bordeleau.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, who represents the Hintonburg community, said he has told his residents to let the SIU do its investigation.
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
With a charge in the case, Leiper wouldn’t comment on how the community will receive the news of a criminal accusation against an officer.
“The community will be pleased to see that it’s moving forward now,” Leiper said. “It was a long investigation.”
Mayor Jim Watson’s office said it would be inappropriate for him to comment during an ongoing SIU investigation.
There are conflicting reports about the events that led to Abdi’s death.
Several videos were shot by witnesses and bystanders and released to the public, including one 27-minute video that was provided to the Citizen by a witness. Two other shorter clips were shared on YouTube, though none of the videos shows the actual takedown outside Abdi’s Hintonburg apartment.
The videos do not capture any use of force by police officers. The videos show police officers standing and crouching over Abdi’s prone body, and appear to show officers applying CPR only after paramedics arrived. Paramedics said they arrived on scene five minutes and 24 seconds after police radioed for medical assistance.
One video obtained by the Citizen shows that Abdi was left on the pavement, face down and handcuffed, for nearly 10 minutes from the start of the clip to the point paramedics arrived and police started CPR.
Bordeleau said officers called paramedics 23 seconds after Abdi collapsed and continued to convey to paramedics the priority of the call. He said officers also administered CPR.
The family’s spokeswoman, Nimao Ali, said doctors suggested a lack of oxygen to Abdi’s brain could have played a role in his death, but she could not confirm the official cause of death.
Abdi’s family said doctors told them he was dead 45 minutes before he arrived at hospital.
Doctors pronounced him dead at 3:17 p.m. on Monday, July 25. He was 37 years old.
Handout photo of Abdirahman Abdi.
His death prompted several calls for the SIU to release its full report, and sparked several protests, with about 100 demonstrators converging on the Elgin Street police headquarters in August hurling allegations of racial discrimination.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said she supports the public release of the police oversight report into Abdi’s death, though she noted some parts would likely be held back due to privacy concerns.
SIU reports have traditionally not been released, but that changed in April when, following intense media scrutiny, the province released a redacted version of the SIU report into the death of Andrew Loku, who had been shot by Toronto police in July 2015.
However, SIU reports are not released to the public in the event of criminal charges, so any further details of the events that led to Abdi’s death will now likely be disclosed in a courtroom, and not by the police oversight agency.
Two other videos are believed to show the actual arrest of Abdi – one shot by a witness inside the apartment building, who has declined to share the video, and security camera footage which may have captured the arrest outside the main entrance to the building. Neither has been seen by the public.
The exact sequence of events leading to Abdi’s death remains unclear. What is known is that police responded to 911 calls reporting a man grabbing women’s breasts inside a Hintonburg coffee shop.
Once police arrived, they found Abdi, and according to Bordeleau, Abdi continued to be “assaultive.”
He ran away and police pursued until he was taken down by officers some 270 metres away on Hilda Street. Police used pepper spray on him, hit him with batons and used physical force. Some witnesses have described the take down as a beating.
Dozens of people watched from the apartments above as Abdi lay in a pool of blood.
Eyewitness Zainab Abdallah said she saw Abdi, pursued by police, run toward the apartment building and tried to intervene. She said she pleaded with the officers that Abdi had a mental illness, but she said they didn’t stop.
The arrest and Abdi’s subsequent death have fuelled community outrage and reignited long-standing questions about how police deal with mentally ill persons and whether, as some in the community have said, his treatment by police was racially motivated.