A year after Abdi's death, some lessons learned

On July 24, 2016, Ottawa Police responded to a disturbance at the Bridgehead Café in Hintonburg, where complaints had been made about a man apparently groping at least one female customer. Witnesses say the man was pepper-sprayed, and police say he became “assaultive.” Aside from the fact that pepper spray is said to evoke psychological symptoms such as fear, anxiety and panic, it transpired that the man, Abdirahman Abdi, also had a history of mental illness, though he wa