Time c. 9:30 a.m. (EDT) Deaths Abdirahman Abdi | Outcome Under investigation | |
Date July 24, 2016 (2016-07-24) | ||
The death of Abdirahman Abdi, a Somali-Canadian, occurred on July 24, 2016, in the neighbourhood of Hintonburg in the Kitchissippi Ward of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Abdi died in a hospital after an incident with the Ottawa Police Service.
Contents
Background
According to Abdirahman Abdi's 27-year-old younger brother Abdiaziz Abdi, he was 37 years old when he died, and came to Canada in 2009, working in a car wash. He lived on 55 Hilda Street.
Two Ottawa Police Service officers were involved in the arrest.
Arrest and death
Police were called to the Hintonburg Bridgehead coffee shop on the corner of Fairmont Avenue and Wellington Street West over allegations that Abdi was groping women there. J.M. Duval, a witness who was present at the coffee shop since 9:15am, says he saw a commotion and that the front doors were locked as a group outside restrained Mr. Abdi. Duval says it looked like Abdi was trying to either flee or get back into the shop. Duval says he asked the allegedly assaulted woman (who had been taken to the back of the shop) in French what had happened and he says she said (translated) "He groped me." repeatedly. Tracey Clark, the owner of Bridgehead who was not present during the incident, gave a statement August 5 after speaking with staff and customers, describing Abdi as having harassing and assaulting multiple people in the shop. Clark mentioned this was not the first incident with him, and that previously he would stare at customers and get too close to them. Clark said that they had previously intervened by asking Abdi if he was aware of what he was doing and if he could stop.
After the Bridgehead confrontation there at 9:30am, police pursued him 250 metres (three blocks) to his apartment. Dispatchers sent an ambulance for Abdi at 9:52am, and a paramedic reported "vital signs absent" at 9:59am. 12:48pm the SIU tweeted they were sent to investigate.
Later he was taken to the Ottawa Civic Hospital portion of the The Ottawa Hospital but a doctor told the family he was dead 45 minutes prior to arrival. This was announced to the public 3:17pm on Monday July 25.
Aftermath
The Abdi family retained lawyer Lawrence Greenspon two days after his death on Wednesday July 27.
His funeral was held Friday July 29 at the Ottawa (Main) Mosque, with 800 inside and more outside, total attendance was estimated by Naeem Malik (the president of the Ottawa Muslim Association) at over 2000 people. The funeral was led by Imam Mohamed Hachimi and a family statement was read by Imam Sikander Hashmi of the Kanata Muslim Association. Mayor James Alexander Watson spoke at the funeral.
A lack of trust for the SIU has been conveyed in the media in relation to this case. The Canadian Somali Mothers' Association called for two officers to be removed and the Canadian Council of Muslim Women requested a critical look at the case.
In late August, Black Lives Matter's Toronto chapter protested the Special Investigations Unit in Mississauga in response to his death.