A judgment in the trial of Ottawa police Const. Daniel Montsion, accused in the death of Abdirahman Abdi following a violent arrest four years ago, is expected on Oct. 20, 2020.
Ontario Court Justice Robert Kelly set the presumptive date on Wednesday, following three days of final oral submissions from both the Crown and defence in the case.
The date requires final sign-off from trial coordination officials.
At that time, Kelly will consider all evidence presented in the trial since February 2019 to determine whether Montsion can be held liable for 37-year-old Abdi’s death in July 2016.
Montsion has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a deadly weapon.
As counsel wrapped up final submissions in the case Wednesday, Crown lawyer Phil Perlmutter argued the blows Montsion struck to Abdi’s face while wearing reinforced gloves “accelerated” his death.
Abdi was officially declared dead in hospital on July 25, 2016, the day after the arrest, as a result of brain hypoxia. He was also determined to have suffered a heart attack during the arrest.
The Crown has submitted that the nasal fracture he suffered in the altercation with police blocked the supply of oxygen to his brain, contributing to the cause of death.
One of the questions Kelly will have to answer in determining his judgment is whether Montsion’s standing strikes caused that fracture. The defence argues the injuries could have occurred during a pursuit with another officer, Const. Dave Weir, earlier in the day or after Abdi was taken to the ground.
Surveillance footage of the incident does not clearly show those standing blows to Abdi’s face, nor the force or speed of his takedown by Weir.
The defence contends that earlier events in the day, which saw Abdi grope and attack patrons at a nearby coffee shop before police intervention, aggravated the victim’s then-undetected heart condition.
This stress, the defence submits, had already pushed Abdi past the “point of no return” before Montsion arrived at the scene.
Perlmutter raised expert medical testimony from Dr. Christopher Milroy earlier in the trial, however, who noted “multiple punches alone” could have been sufficient to cause Abdi’s death, given the underlying heart condition.
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The Crown also submitted that Montsion’s decision to strike Abdi within moments of arriving on the scene, rather than attempting to de-escalate the situation or pursue a less violent takedown, provides grounds for liability.
Surveillance footage in the case shows Montsion’s car arriving at the scene at 55 Hilda St. seconds before he engages with Abdi and Weir, who has already drawn his baton.
Perlmutter submitted that while it was unclear what details Montsion would have had about the incident from radio reports, he could not have done a proper assessment in the seconds between arriving and engaging with Abdi.
“He got out of his car and his mind was made up,” Perlmutter said Wednesday.
He also argued that, based on radio messages indicating Montsion had changed vehicles before heading to the scene, the officer must not have considered the situation urgent. Defence counsel called this assertion “sheer speculation.”
Perlmutter submitted that, ultimately, Montsion failed to show concern for Abdi himself in the course of the arrest.
“In our submission, he failed in that duty,” he said.
The defence, alternatively, has argued that officers such as Montsion should not be held to a “standard of perfection” while in the line of duty, submitting that the constable acted “reasonably” in the situation.
Kelly will now have nearly three months to answer the case’s pivotal questions.
These include whether Montsion’s reinforced gloves are to be considered weapons, whether it’s likely the officer caused Abdi’s nasal fractures with his blows, and whether those blows ultimately caused or contributed to the victim’s death.
Questions have been raised as to how much can be read into surveillance footage of the incident, the reliability of Weir’s memory and whether blood splatter at the scene can point definitively to when Abdi’s facial injuries occurred.
Whatever the decision, Kelly’s judgment will be read amid a renewed conversation around police violence against Black people.
Abdi’s death sparked outrage and calls for justice in 2016 when footage of the arrest first surfaced.
The trial was meant to wrap up earlier this year, but the novel coronavirus pandemic pushed the final oral submissions from spring to summer.
During that time, the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis sparked global protests and renewed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Ottawa streets have also been filled with protesters calling for police reform as of late, with the Justice for Abdirahman Coalition among those leading the charge locally.
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