Abdunnur punched an officer in the face after he was stopped — a detail that is for some reason left out of this Ottawa Citizen report. In any case, all the reports on this incident are cryptic in one way or another. This one brings up the fact that authorities are monitoring Muslims who have expressed intentions to join the Islamic State, but then says that it isn’t known if Andunnur was one of them or not. But in any case, the traffic stop was part of a national security investigation, and clearly, for whatever reason, Abdunnur didn’t want to be stopped.
“Ottawa traffic stop part of RCMP national security probe,” by Shaamini Yogaretnam, Ottawa Citizen, October 29, 2014:
A chaotic Ottawa police traffic stop on Bank Street in which a plainclothes Ontario Provincial Police officer fired a single shot at a man was part of an RCMP national security investigation, the Citizen has learned.
The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) has been monitoring south Ottawa resident Luqman Abdunnur, 39, with the assistance of the OPP’s surveillance unit.
INSET officers have as their mandate to track and disrupt criminal behaviour of known terrorist groups or people who pose a threat to national security.
On Saturday, three days after Michael Zehaf-Bibeau gunned down Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial before dying in a shootout on Parliament Hill, police decided to conduct a traffic stop of Abdunnur in Ottawa’s south end.
RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said that on the day of the attack, the national force was monitoring people who expressed intentions to travel abroad and that Zehaf-Bibeau was not on the list of 93 people who had been identified.
Paulson also said that the RCMP hadn’t made arrests from that high-risk traveller list prior to the attack and it wasn’t the force’s intention to make arrests immediately following.
It’s not known whether Abdunnur is a designated high-risk traveller.
City police conducted the traffic stop at 3:29 p.m. Saturday on Bank Street near Heron Road. Two officers participated, although Ottawa police officers do not typically patrol in pairs.
Police said at the time that Abdunnur became “combative.” Police asked him to step out of his car and place his hands on the trunk, witness Peter Dickson said.
Sources say the man then proceeded to pace back and forth and chant, which caused heightened concern among the officers doing the stop and among OPP officers conducting surveillance and watching the interaction.
Witnesses said the man then began running away from the officers. Ottawa police deployed a Taser, unsuccessfully, to try to subdue him.
Abdunnur then allegedly punched a city police officer in the face, causing a member of the OPP surveillance unit to exit an unmarked black police SUV and draw his weapon. The officer “was in the area and observed the altercation (and) came to assist OPS members,” according to an Ottawa police press release later issued. The officer fired a single gunshot at the fleeing suspect, but did not hit the man.
Ottawa police officers then deployed the Taser a second time, hit the man, and took him to the ground. He was later taken to hospital, as was the officer who had sustained facial injuries.
Ottawa police said Monday that Abdunnur faces charges of assaulting police, obstructing a peace officer, resisting a peace officer and driving under suspension.
Abdunnur has not yet appeared in court and the charges have not yet been formally laid.
In January 2012, a man with the name Abdunnur H-Luqman was fourth on a list of people who owed the city the most money for traffic violations and provincial offences. He owed a whopping $73,904.62 in fines.
Abdunnur was previously charged with obstructing a police officer in February 2010 and with common assault in April that year. Both charges were withdrawn….
Rob says
If that is a verbatim transcript of the news item, the punch is certainly mentioned.
Paul says
Yup:
Salah says
“The officer fired a single gunshot at the fleeing suspect, but did not hit the man.”
That’s what shooting ranges are made for: to learn how to never miss your target!
duh_swami says
Sounds like an episode of ‘Cops’…It’s always a mistake to punch a cop. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself next time you get stopped and see what happens..Pacing and chanting…I wonder what he was chanting?
Alex says
You do? I put the odds at 10:1 that he was chanting something “religious” in nature.
Puaul says
Oh, now that’s rich. Cops the world over are hired to consolidate the power of the political class, which has a vested interest in not appearing in public with bloody hands while doing its dirty work of pretending to be peaceful collectivists, peaceful tax farmers, etc.
Western Canadian says
It would appear that this loon was ‘educated’ by howard zinn…. and loved the load of crap movie ‘good will hunting’. Ignorant to the bone.
Rob Porter says
On thing is evident here, Canadian cops are going to have to learn fast how to deal with violent Muslim individuals. One got punched in the face when he should have been on his guard – after this joker, Abdunner, showed signs of serious Islamic mental disorder (how dare these infidels detain me!) and then the other cop actually missed the target with his shot – despite Abdunnur unquestionably being in close range. Not good enough.
Denis says
The Ottawa citizen is a left wing rag. It recently had an article written by Omar Kadr, a known Islamic terrorist serving time in Canada. This is the same Kadr that killed a US medic and blinded another in Afganistan. He was released from Guantanamo Bay prison by Obama in his attempt to clear terrorists from that prison. The Ottawa citizen refers to him as a child soldier. He is 28 or 29 years of age today. It was a me, me, me piece. When the murder of the two military men in the last week the OT did not refer to the killing as an act of terrorism. There was no reference to whom Kadr was and did in the OT. You have to ask a pertinent question. Who is the editor who allowed this op ed piece and who owns the OT. I suspect an Arab influence