A police officer who was found not guilty of manslaughter in the 2016 death of an Ottawa man told a coroner’s inquest his goal was to “distract” Abdirahman Abdi with punches during the arrest, and he “did his best” to monitor him afterwards.
The inquest into Abdi’s death marks the first time Ottawa police Const. Daniel Montsion has spoken publicly about the case.
The 38-year-old Abdi died in July 2016 after police responded to a 911 call reporting that a man was groping women outside a coffee shop in Ottawa’s Hintonburg neighbourhood. The inquest has heard that Abdi appeared to be in a mental-health crisis at the time….