Somali American woman's father lauds Columbus detective's indictment in fatal hit-run
The father of a Somali American woman killed by a hit-and-run vehicle on Columbus' Northeast Side a little more than a year ago welcomed the indictment Wednesday of an off-duty city police detective in connection with her death.
“I am thrilled today and I trust the prosecutors and investigators, and I believe justice will prevail,” Mahdi Jama, 52, the father of the victim, 27-year-old Naimo Mahdi Abdirahman, told The Dispatch in Somali through a translator.
Abdirahman was reported hit while crossing Morse Road in the area of Walford Street around 2:40 a.m. on April 20, 2022. She was pronounced dead at the scene by medics at 2:48 a.m.
Columbus police Detective Demetris A. Ortega, 50, of the city's Northeast Side, was indicted Wednesday by a Franklin County grand jury on two charges stemming from the crash, which occurred while he was off-duty. He is charged with failure to stop after an accident, which is a felony, as well as a misdemeanor count of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them.
Abdirahman’s father, who lives in Gahanna, said his daughter was born in a Somali refugee camp in Kenya in January 1995. She came to the U.S. as a child and became an American citizen.
A graduate of Columbus City Schools' Centennial High School on the Northwest Side, she had attended Columbus State Community College.
Abdirahman had one son, now 2 years old, and was living with family at the time she was killed, Jama said. He and other family members have said they do not know why she was crossing Morse Road at the time of the fatal crash.
Hassan Omar, president/executive director of the nonprofit Somali Community Association of Ohio in Columbus, said that Abdirahman had worked as a receptionist for his organization several years ago.
“She was wonderful. She was somebody with ambition — she was dreaming to become a nurse practitioner,” Omar said.
Ortega is scheduled to appear in court on May 10 for an arraignment, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records.
Members of Abdirahman's family had previously expressed to The Dispatch frustration with the lack of transparency from Columbus police during the investigation and with how slowly the investigation progressed. Still, Jama said he is glad that some charges have finally been brought in connection with his daughter’s death.
“I never slept without remembering. … I was worried about what's gonna happen if this person who killed my daughter gets away without punishment,” he said.
Addressing the long period of time it took to bring charges, he said, “I do believe that everything takes a process. And I knew that this has been under investigation. … As an immigrant, I feel today included.
“I am joyful. … I will get enough sleep tonight.”
Dispatch reporters Eric Lagatta, Jordan Laird and Cole Behrens contributed to this report.
Peter Gill covers immigration, New American communities and religion for the Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at: bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Somali father 'thrilled' Columbus detective charged in daughter's death
