MPP says tweet stating police officer 'murdered' Ottawa man written by staffer

Ottawa–Vanier MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers apologized and said she takes full responsibility for a post from her Twitter account that a "careless" Ottawa police officer "murdered" Abdirahman Abdi, although she says she did not write it. 

"I want to say how sorry I am for what happened," the Liberal MPP told CBC Thursday. "It was not of my doing. The tweet was admitted without my knowledge and does not reflect what I view and what I think." 

Des Rosiers also told CBC she will not fire the staffer who did write the tweets.

On July 24, 2016, Ottawa police were called to a Hintonburg coffee shop to deal with a man who had groped a woman. During the ensuing arrest by Const. Daniel Montsion and another officer, the Somali-Canadian man with mental health issues lost vital signs.

Abdi was pronounced dead in hospital the following day.

Ontario's police watchdog later charged Montsion with one count each of manslaughter, assault with a weapon and aggravated assault in Abdi's death.

His trial is not expected to begin until February 2019.

Desrosiers admonished for rushing to judgment

Starting at about 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, several tweets from her account were issued in French and English about the killings of black people, including Abdi and Ashton Dickson, a 25-year-old Ottawa football player who was shot outside a nightclub last month.

The Des Rosiers tweet, which was deleted Thursday morning, read: "My thoughts are with Abdi's family & friends murdered by a careless police officer. Be strong!"

Dozens of negative tweets poured in admonishing Des Rosiers, who is a lawyer and former dean of the University of Ottawa's law school, for rushing to judgment ahead of Monstion's trial.

• Read the tweets below.

However, Des Rosiers's executive assistant said Thursday morning that it was not the MPP who wrote the tweets. Later in the day, Des Rosiers herself confirmed it was someone in her office who sent out the Wednesday night tweets, but wouldn't name the staffer.

'I would not have done it'

The MPP said that she believes "it is highly inappropriate to comment on ongoing judicial proceedings. I would not have done it. I spent my entire life fighting for the presumption of innocence. And I am not going to start doing something different now."

Des Rosiers' comments echoed a statement issued Thursday morning by Premier Kathleen Wynne's press secretary, which read:

"Despite the tweets from my account last night, I want to make it clear I had no intention of commenting on any ongoing proceedings. I have absolute respect for the integrity of our judicial process. In our society everyone is innocent until proven guilty and I apologize that the comments last night did not reflect that principle."

Police members call for respect of process

Among the people who responded to the tweet were Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau, who asked for people to "respect due process."

And Ottawa police union president Matt Skof, who asked whether the comments were reflective of the Ontario Liberal Party as a whole.

"Somebody has hired this person with this mindset. There's no way that this would have not been fleshed out in an interview prior to hiring," Skof said in an interview Thursday.

"It goes back to this systemic problem, that you have sitting members of government who have this opinion, but also that their colleagues, the ones that they hire, have the same mindset. And it's very disturbing to see."

Des Rosiers told CBC she has reached out to Bordeleau and Skof to apologize.

Summary of tweets

The tweets were deleted from Des Rosiers's Twitter account Thursday morning. Here is a screen capture of them.

Negative reactions poured in about the Abdi tweet.

But not every reaction was negative.

At midnight, Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau tweeted that Abdi's death "has been difficult for many" and that people should "respect due process."

And Matt Skof, the head of the Ottawa Police Association, asked Wynne, the Ontario Liberal Party, and Attorney General Yasir Naqvi whether the comments reflect the party's opinions.

A follow-up tweet was issued from Des Rosiers's account early Thursday morning, taking a step back from the earlier comments. It was also deleted.