Coroner’s inquest underway into 2016 death of Ottawa man Abdirahman Abdi

OTTAWA — The family of an Ottawa man who died after a violent arrest by police eight years ago is hoping the coroner’s inquest into his death will lead to improvements in the way police respond to calls involving a mental health crisis.

The inquest into the July 2016 death of 38-year-old Abdirahman Abdi began Monday morning in Ottawa.

His family issued a statement that was read by their lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon.

“What happened to our beloved brother could have been prevented, and we have been disappointed in the lack of progress made with respect to the implementation of the mental health response by Ottawa police,” they wrote.

“We sincerely hope that no other family has to go through this in the future.”

The inquest is mandated by law because Abdi was injured while in policy custody. It is set to last four weeks.

The jury is not tasked with determining legal responsibility but it can make recommendations to avoid similar deaths in the future.

Abdi died after police officers responded to a 911 call reporting that a man was groping women outside a coffee shop in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood.

Those women, who were only referred to by their initials, will not be testifying in the inquest. Their experiences will instead be included through their previous statements to police and investigators.

Inquest lawyer Alessandra Hollands told the jury Monday that Abdi ran from the scene, and officers took him to the ground and hit him when they caught up with him outside his apartment.

He later died in hospital.

One officer was charged in the case with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon and was found not guilty in 2020.

The jury will be shown evidence including Abdi’s personal history, medical and mental-health care, interactions before his death and what happened during his interaction with police.

Their recommendations could relate to the Ottawa Police Service’s use of force, its equipment, its interactions with people experiencing mental health crises, along with intercultural competence and anti-Black racism.

The inquest will not discuss the health-care treatment Abdi received from paramedics and hospital staff.

The jurors heard Monday that Abdi was born in Somalia and left with his family to a refugee camp in Kenya with his family before moving to Canada in 2009.

In Canada, he was generally happy and was close with his family, Greenspon said.

He was married in 2015, but his mental health began to deteriorate shortly after.

Still, Greenspon said he had much to look forward to including the birth of his child, which happened seven months after his death.

Through an agreed statement of facts, the inquest heard that Abdi appeared to be in a mental health crisis when he interacted with patrons at a coffee shop in the neighbourhood, with multiple women saying he grabbed their breasts without consent.

Staff at the coffee shop called police, and tried to keep him from re-entering the building.

In a 911 call played for the inquest, an employee from the shop said Abdi was being aggressive, and that he had been coming in for the past few weeks making staff feel uncomfortable.

They said Abdi continued attacking people on the street after he left the shop.

Darren Courtney, a psychiatrist based in Toronto, was a witness to the events while visiting his sister in Ottawa and testified about what he saw on Monday.

He said he thought Abdi was struggling with some sort of mental illness, and that while Abdi initially complied with police, he ran away once they tried to handcuff him.

Shortly after, an officer kicked Abdi in the knee, but he stood back up and continued running down the street.

Abdi didn’t use physical force toward the officers, nor did he verbally abuse them, Courtney testified, but he said he did fear Abdi was a harm to women and children in the area.

He had concerns for Abdi’s safety, too. Courtney said those concerns were not due to the actions of police that day, but rather because of his line of work and what he knows of interactions between police and racialized people in mental health crises.

Questioned by Tina Hill, another lawyer for the family, Courtney said he was trying to signal to the 911 operator that Abdi was in mental distress, but the operator was more concerned with his physical actions than his mental state.

The inquest is expected to hear what happened when police encountered Abdi at his apartment.

The inquest continues Tuesday afternoon.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press