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David Thyne has been haunted by recurring nightmares, he testified Monday, of police officers beating a handcuffed man in the face with a baton as the victim screamed, pleading for his life.

But the nightmare scenario Thyne has envisioned since witnessing the fatal arrest of Abdirahman Abdi from his apartment window on July 24, 2016 did not align with the facts court has already heard in the manslaughter and assault trial of Const. Daniel Montsion.

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Thyne, 49, told court he was watching TV that morning at a rooming house across from 55 Hilda St. when he was alerted to a woman’s scream, followed by a man screaming outside.

He ran to the fire escape for a better view, and later recorded the aftermath of the arrest with his cellphone in a video that was entered into evidence in the trial’s early days.

He refused to speak with Ottawa police when officers asked him for a statement that day, “Because I knew that they were not going to be truthful with their investigation,” he told court.