Perspective and Reality

Abdirahman Abdi. Const. Daniel Montsion right, Const. Dave Weir

"How many more lives need to be lost? How many more sleepless nights must our mothers endure? How many more Greg Ritches do we need to see die? How many more [Anthony Austs] do we need to see leave this world [two young men of colour who died during confrontations with police]."

"How many more Abdirahman Abdis do we need to see in this fate? When will our lives matter?"

"Today we received the devastating news of an acquittal in a trial that held the power to course-correct the system that desperately needed correction."

"Today was nothing short of catastrophic. Today we have no demands for the system and the system did not fail us -- it was not built for us."

"For years, our coalition has negotiated and discussed, politely urged those in authority to make changes. For years we have said that there's a need for legislative reform. Today we've understood a very hard truth.:

"Today the crack of the whip stung us, but it will never kill us. Today there was no conviction, but conviction remains firmly in our hearts."

Farhia Ahmed, Justice for Abdirahman Coalition

Const. Daniel Montsion, right, on trial for manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon in the 2016 death of 37-year-old Abdirahman Abdi, left. (Supplied)

"[I am not satisfied the Crown had met the] criminal standard [ on any of the three charges]. I'm also left with a reasonable doubt on whether Const.Montsion's acts caused Mr. Abdi's nasal injuries, and even if they did, whether those acts caused his death."

"I find Const.Montsion not guilty of all the charges. I cannot safely make this finding on the criminal standard. [My] closest examination of  the evidence leaves me with a reasonable doubt on this issue. I need not address excited delirium or psychotic illness as potential causes of death [though the] evidentiary record on these issues may invite speculation."

"I have looked at all of the circumstances based on the evidence as a whole. I have not ignored the Crown's submissions emphasizing that when Const.Montsion arrived as the second officer on scene, Mr. Abdi was not holding a weapon and was not actively assaulting Const.Weir."

"Nor was Mr. Abdi striking the two officers when he was on the ground, although he was struggling hard for some time, and with some success against the force of two trained police officers. This is a close call."

"In the end, my assessment of the evidence as a whole, under the governing principles of law, leaves me in a state of reasonable doubt about whether the standing blows and the blows on the ground exceeded the bounds of reasonable police force response in the totality of the circumstances."

Ottawa Court Justice Robert Kelly, from 112-page ruling

Still from witness video shot after a confrontation involving police and Abdirahman Abdi in Hintonburg. jpg

In Ottawa, a member of the Somalian community with a mental illness and who stopped taking his medication, 37-year-old Abdirahman Abdi who lived with his parents in an apartment building in central Ottawa, on a day in July 2016, went to a nearby coffee shop which he occasionally frequented. There he began physically assaulting women in a sexual manner so violently that others present had to come to the assistance of the women struggling to free themselves from his grasp. Workers at the coffee shop called police.

Outside the coffee shop, the man assaulted another woman who had bicycled to the area with her infant in a child seat on the bicycle. A passing psychotherapist remarked later that in his professional opinion the man was having a psychotic attack. Abdirahman Abdi also had other health issues, primarily an undiagnosed heart condition of serious dimensions. After he was forcibly made to leave the coffee shop a police constable responded to the urgent call, confronting Abdi, who resisted arrest and whom pepper spray appeared to have no effect on, as grappled with the officer, then freed himself.

With abnormal strength he picked up a 30-pound road construction weight and swung it about, threatening Const.Dave Weir, then sprinted away, running toward his apartment. Outside the apartment doors, the constable caught up to the man, attempting to take him into custody. It was then that a second constable appeared, responding to a police call for assistance. This was Const.Daniel Montsion who then gave aid to his fellow constable, both attempting to manacle Abdi whose physical strength appeared equal to the efforts of the two police. 

 

At Const.Montsion's trial, Const.Weir testified about his attempts to subdue and handcuff Abdi, including that none of his strikes with his police baton to subdue the man succeeded. It was when Const.Montsion arrived, seeing his colleague struggle with the now-exhausted but still offensive man that he hit him several times with a gloved hand with rubber studs, several times in his face, and again on his thighs. They managed together to handcuff Abdi, who by then was not moving. When the constables realized that he was unconscious they began administering CPR until paramedics arrived, who soon concluded Abdi had died.

 

Of a heart condition brought on by excessive excitement giving him unusual physical strength and which caused him to have a massive heart attack. The postmortem that was carried out following Abdi's death found no trace of drugs or alcohol in his system — including the antipsychotic medication he had been prescribed and which his family decided he no longer needed to take. Now that the judgement as to guilt for the death of Abdi has been decided, Justice Kelly having considered Const.Montsion's "overall conduct" during the arrest, taking into account the Crown's argument that de-escalation techniques should have been attempted, the case should be closed.

 

But the black community has no intention of leaving matters as they presently lie. Insisting that racism was involved, that Mr. Abdi's death amounted to institutional murder by a police force that has no regard for the life and safety of blacks. Had it been a white man who had assaulted the women and discharged himself afterward in a like manner to Mr. Abdi's, society would have done a mental shrug of 'most unfortunate'. The black community is on a roll. That there is racism and that blacks have suffered from it is undeniable.

 

That blacks themselves are often their own worst enemies, is also undeniable, with the community representing more than their 'share' of gangs, violence and criminal activity, with community members cowering in fear, yet unable to bring themselves to aid police in winnowing out those who prey on their own communities, to hold them accountable for their crimes -- shootings for example that are all too common in drug wars. Instead, they focus on white-on-black incidents where legitimate efforts to respond to social deviants, irrespective of skin colour, are singled out as racism.

 

The embrace of victimhood sits uncomfortably on any group, but when accusations and hysteria rule the day muddying the waters of real issues of racism, conflating them with the pursuit of law and order, society itself suffers as a whole and solutions evade. Every community has an obligation to themselves and to the greater society to comport themselves in a manner consonant with responsible citizenry. When issues arise where real events of racism arise, false alarms have a dampening effect on remedial action.

 

Demonstrators march from Somerset Square park to Ottawa Police headquarter on Elgin street during the March for Justice – In Memory of Abdirahman Abdi. Saturday, July 30, 2016. Photo by James Park /Postmedia