The Abdirahman Abdi inquest is being livestreamed during the day here.
The Ottawa police officer acquitted of manslaughter in the death of Abdirahman Abdi has given his first public account of the arrest, faced tough questions about his actions — and offered a message of condolence during the fifth day of an inquest into Abdi’s death in 2016.
“I’m sorry for the loss,” Const. Daniel Montsion said Friday when asked by a lawyer for Abdi’s family if he had anything to say to them.
Asked if he felt bad about what happened to Abdi, who died a day after his violent arrest by Montsion and another officer, Montsion replied, “It’s tragic, for sure.”
Abdi was a 38-year-old Somali-Canadian who struggled with his mental health. He came on officers’ radar on July 24, 2016, because he’d groped women in or near a Hintonburg coffee shop that morning, the inquest has heard.
Montsion wasn’t the first officer to respond to the scene, but his punching of Abdi’s head as he and the other officer tried to arrest the man triggered a criminal trial in which Montsion was acquitted of manslaughter.
His testimony Friday marked a major turning point in the mandatory inquest, which is meant to prevent deaths like Abdi’s in the future and is exploring Ottawa police training on everything from use of force to anti-Black racism.
A main line of questioning at the inquest has been whether the officers could have approached Abdi differently given their suspicions of his mental instability.
But when Montsion arrived, “it was past that point,” he said.
Gloves ‘not in use anymore’
Montsion’s examination in chief on Friday first focused on the information the officer had when responding to the call about Abdi.
Montsion was working overtime that day, having volunteered to help the force’s short-staffed patrol unit. His vehicle’s computer was rebooting so the only information he got was over the radio: that there was a disturbance at a coffee shop involving pushing, shoving and a possible sexual assault.
“It was on my mind that this might be a mental health call,” Montsion said, though he has told the inquest his memory of that day, mixed as it is with details he learned later, is “a big mess.”
Another officer, David Weir, had approached Abdi on the street after the coffee shop incident. Weir tried to handcuff, pepper spray and baton Abdi with no success, and chased him to the alcove of his nearby apartment building. That’s when Montsion entered the picture.
Montsion said he’d seen Weir and Abdi grappling before they reached the building entrance. Then there was a standoff, with Abdi standing “defensively” with his hands by his waist in an “athletic” position.
Montsion yelled “Police!” to distract Abdi, who then walked toward Montsion and reached his hands out.
“I start to throw punches at him to keep him from grabbing on to me,” Montsion said before going on to describe how he and Weir pinned Abdi to the ground and struggled to get handcuffs on him. Abdi bit Montsion and tried to scratch him, according to Montsion.
Montsion, wearing police-issued gloves with plastic knuckles, then punched Abdi in the head. He had never received special training on the gloves but said he understood they were “not in use anymore.”
“I received no guidance, but I don’t believe they cause more damage” than regular gloves, Montsion said.
Montsion said he has undergone regular use-of-force training, but at that time the policy did not call for a specific approach to people in crisis. Nor are a person’s mental health issues taken into account when deciding whether to use force in the first place, he added.
“Force is used based on somebody’s behaviour,” Montsion told the inquest.
Montsion said he did not think Abdi’s being Black had any impact on his approach that day.
“And the fact that he might be a person with mental health issues also did not have any impact on [it]?” asked Tina Hill, one of the lawyers representing Abdi’s family.
“It could have, but given what was going on, no, it didn’t,” Montsion said.
Montsion did not recall people at the scene telling the officers that Abdi had mental health issues.
Disagreement over information shared with paramedics
Once in handcuffs, Abdi continued to struggle for a while until his body went slack. Abdi lost consciousness but was still breathing, Montsion said.
Monstion kept checking to see if Abdi was breathing and felt for a pulse through his gloves until paramedics arrived, he added.
Maria Stevens, one of the lawyers handling the inquest for the Office of the Chief Coroner, asked Montsion if he told the paramedics he’d struck Abdi in the head before they took him to hospital. That would have been important for them to know, Stevens said.
Stevens appeared surprised when Montsion said that he had.
“I’m going to suggest to you that the information about Mr. Abdi being struck in the head was not something you conveyed to the paramedics,” Stevens said.
“I would say that that’s wrong,” Montsion replied.
Talked to sister in aftermath
Montsion’s testimony followed that of Weir, who gave his own account of the arrest on Wednesday and Thursday.
Whereas Weir often grew quite animated, and at one point had to be warned he was becoming argumentative with another Abdi family lawyer, Montsion remained even-tempered throughout.
Unlike Weir, who left the force earlier this year, Montsion is still a police officer in Ottawa.
At one point on Friday, Montsion was asked about a woman who approached him after Abdi had been carried off. It was Abdi’s sister.
“I asked for his name, where he lives, and then I was able to find out at which hospital Mr. Abdi would be taken to,” Montsion said. “I gave her that information so the family could monitor his condition and go be with him.”
Abdi was pronounced dead the next day.
WATCH / The Abdirahman Abdi inquest has begun. Here’s what you need to know:
WARNING: This video contains graphic content | Eight years after Abdirahman Abdi died following a violent struggle with Ottawa police, a coroner’s inquest is bringing the event back into the spotlight. Here’s what you need to know.