TheAbdirahman Abdiinquest is being livestreamed during the dayhere.
The Ottawa police officer acquitted of manslaughter in the death ofAbdirahman Abdihas given his first public account of the arrest, faced tough questions about his actions — andoffered a message of condolenceduring the fifth day of an inquest into Abdi's death in 2016.
"I'm sorry for the loss," Const. Daniel Montsionsaid 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 byMontsion and another officer, Montsionreplied, "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 headas he and the other officer tried to arrest the mantriggered a criminal trial in whichMontsionwas acquitted of manslaughter.
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His testimony Fridaymarked amajor 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 couldhave approached Abdi differently given their suspicions of his mental instability.
But when Montsion arrived, "it was past that point," hesaid.
Gloves 'not in use anymore'
Montsion's examination in chief on Friday first focused onthe 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 memoryof 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 Montsionentered the picture.
Montsion said he'd seen Weir and Abdi grappling before they reached the building entrance. Then there was a standoff, with Abdistanding "defensively" with his hands by his waist in an "athletic" position.
Montsion yelled "Police!" to distract Abdi, who then walked toward Montsionand reached his hands out.
"I start to throw punches at him to keep him from grabbing on to me," Montsion saidbefore going on to describe how he and Weir pinned Abdi to the ground and struggled to get handcuffs on him. Abdibit Montsion and tried to scratch him, according to Montsion.
Montsion, wearingpolice-issued gloves with plastic knuckles, then punched Abdi in the head. He had never received special training on the glovesbut 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 timethe policy did not call for a specific approach topeople 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 officersthat Abdi had mental health issues.
Disagreement overinformation shared with paramedics
Once in handcuffs, Abdicontinued to struggle for a while until his body went slack. Abdilost consciousness but was still breathing, Montsion said.
Monstionfelt for a pulse through his gloves. He also kept checking to see if Abdi was breathing up until about a minute before paramedics arrived, at which point he got distracted as the scene was chaotic and noisy,he added.
Onlookers yelled out at police. "He's mentally ill, this man," onewoman could be heard saying in a cell phone video taken after Abdi was handcuffed andshown after Montsion's testimony.
Screaming could also be heard as Abdi lay bloodied on the ground.Some of Abdi's relatives were watching the aftermath of the altercation from inside the apartment entrance.
"His mother. Do you hear his mom?" the woman heard on the cell phone videoshouted.
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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 the 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 becomingargumentative 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, Montsionwas 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 atwhich hospital Mr. Abdiwould 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.
The inquest continues on Monday.
WATCH / The Abdirahman Abdi inquest has begun. Here's what you need to know:
The death of Abdirahman Abdi — and the questions that remain 11 days ago Duration 5:16