Abdirahman Abdi: Ottawa police reviewing inquest recommendations [Video]

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) says it is committed to repairing the “fractured relationships” it has with the local Somali community in the wake of the inquest into the death of Abdirahman Abdi more than eight years ago.

Abdi, 38, died in hospital a day after a violent arrest at the hands of Ottawa police on July 24, 2016. Officers had been called to a local coffee shop on reports Abdi had been groping patrons. During the arrest outside his Hilda Street apartment building, officers knocked him to the ground and struck him in the head several times.

Still image from security camera footage of the violent arrest outside the apartment building where Abdirahman Abdi lived on Hilda Street.

While the officer charged in connection Abdi’s death was acquitted in 2020, the 2024 coroner’s inquest into his death ruled it a homicide, a designation that is not legally binding, and …