Abdirahman Abdi was being physically restrained by civilians before police showed up in response to 911 calls that would begin a series of events ending with the man’s death on the front steps of his Hintonburg apartment building, a witness says.



Abdi, 37, was pronounced dead Monday after what witnesses allege was a violent arrest by Ottawa police officers Sunday morning that saw Abdi pepper-sprayed, beaten with batons and left hand-cuffed and lying on his stomach until paramedics arrived to find him without vital signs.



His death has sparked an investigation by the Special Investigations Unit, to determine whether police are criminally responsible for his death, as well as community demands for justice for a black man who many fear was the target of unjust police violence.



Abdi’s interaction with police began around 9:30 a.m. Sunday, when police received multiple calls reporting that he had grabbed a woman’s breast at a nearby coffee shop.



J.M. Duval was at the Hintonburg Bridgehead coffee shop on the corner of Fairmont Avenue and Wellington Street West on Sunday morning, having a coffee and croissant before heading over to the church across the street where he sings in a choir.



Between 9:15 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., Duval, who was sitting in the back of the coffee shop near the Fairmont Avenue entrance heard what he called a “kerfuffle” that sounded like a “bar scuffle.” That altercation was happening in the front of the establishment near the Wellington Street West main entrance.



“I heard tables moving, people yelling and screaming and shouting,” Duval said. Then he heard multiple pleas from someone to “Call 911.”



Duval then heard Bridgehead staff telling people to stay inside and that the doors were being locked.



The woman who had allegedly been assaulted was taken to the back area of the restaurant, where Duval spoke to her in French and asked what had happened.

The woman told him repeatedly “He groped me.” After being consoled and comforted, she went back to the front of the restaurant.



Abdi was outside on the sidewalk, being physically restrained by a group of patrons. As many as two of them were holding his arms and a larger group had formed to stop him from fleeing, which Duval says he was actively trying to do. Duval believed that Abdi could also have been trying to get back into the establishment.



Duval eventually left the coffee shop when employees unlocked the doors. As he left, he saw several police cruisers coming down Wellington Street West. He didn’t witness any of their interaction with Abdi.



Police arrived at the Bridgehead and, at some point, Abdi fled and they chased after him. Sources say police observed Abdi frothing blood from his mouth before physically engaging with him. Less than 300 metres later, Abdi was face-down on his doorstep at 55 Hilda St., a building run by the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization.



Executive director Leslie Emory said Abdi’s family is confused, grieving in private but also showing tremendous wisdom and poise as they grapple with what’s happened.



For the organization, and the residents of 55 Hilda St., there continue to be questions about what happened to Abdi and why.



“We’re very prepared to allow the SIU to conduct its process and determine culpability,” Emory said. “We’re not prepared to just wait for that before engaging with the community, supporting the community to understand or come to terms with what’s happened here and start to explore what may have been underlying this.”



“We have a vulnerable individual, he’s a member of a visible minority, he’s known to have mental health issues and somehow something escalated to the point at which there was an altercation and he died,” she said. “Any way we look at that, that shouldn’t be the outcome.”



Abdi’s funeral is set for Friday.



The SIU continues to investigate.



syogaretnam@postmedia.com

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