Accused in Toronto cop's death thought officers were criminals
Umar Zameer has pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder in death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup
A man accused of running over a Toronto police officer nearly three years ago, tearfully apologized to the officer's family and recounted the moment he thought his family was being ambushed by criminals during his trial on Thursday.
Umar Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who died after he was run over by a car in an underground parking garage on July 2, 2021.
Zameer was in downtown Toronto with his pregnant wife and young son to enjoy Canada Day festivities, court has heard.
As he was preparing to drive his BMW out of the parking garage around midnight, with his family inside, Zameer said he saw a man and a woman in plain clothes rushing towards the car.
The woman knocked on the car window and pointed downwards. Zameer said he didn't understand what the downward gesture meant. "I thought they [were] trying to rob us," he said. The pair did not identify themselves as police, he said.
He quickly pressed a button to lock the car doors. Immediately afterwards, he said the pair started banging on the car, loud enough that his two-year old son began to cry in the backseat.
"[The pair] were shouting so loud, 'stop, stop, get out the car,'" Zameer recalled.
He said he started driving forward to get out of the parking spot. The moment he did so, he said a dark grey van "came out of nowhere," blocking him.
"I was so scared," he said. "I thought, it's not just two people. It's this whole gang."
He said his wife, sitting next to him in the passenger seat, began hyperventilating. "I remember she couldn't even pronounce my name properly," Zameer said, adding that he worried the fear had started her labour. His wife had miscarried before this pregnancy, he said.
Zameer said he then looked back, rested his hand on his crying son's knees and reversed the car. He did so at a higher speed than his first forward movement as he wanted to get away as fast as possible, he said.
Only when he reversed did the banging and shouting stop, he said. As he drove forward, maintaining the higher speed, he said he noticed what he thought was a speed bump.
As Zameer drove toward the parking garage exit, he said he told his wife to call the police, fearing the van would follow them. He had seen police in the area earlier in the night.
"I thought they would immediately come down and save us," he said.
Accused testifies officer punched him in the face
As he left the exit, Zameer said he was hit from behind. A man came out of the vehicle, pointed a gun at him and told him to get out of the car. Zameer said he immediately got out.
"I thought he was just going to shoot anytime," he said. "I didn't want [my son] to see this."
The man told him to lie down on the ground, cuffed his hands and then told him to get up. As Zameer struggled to get up with his hands cuffed, he said a second man, Const. Scharnil Pais, approached him and punched his face.
"[Pais] said, 'you ran over my partner,'" Zameer recounted. "I said, 'I didn't run over anyone.' And he said, 'we are the police.'"
This was the first time Zameer heard the word "police," he testified on Thursday.
In response, Zameer told Pais he didn't know they were police. Pais nodded, he said, before turning away and pointing at blood on the BMW.
"He said, 'Look at that. That's the brains of my partner,'" Zameer recalled.
He told the jury this was the moment that he thought the speed bump he had driven over could have been a person.
Accused prayed officer would be OK
In court on Thursday, Zameer said he was in horrified disbelief after learning he had hit someone. After he was cuffed, he said he was taken in a "metal van" to the police station.
"All this time in the van, I was praying that the man would be OK," Zameer said.
Once he was in the police station, he was told the person he struck had died. "I couldn't feel the ground under my legs," he said.
He recalls asking the officers present if the woman — Northrup's partner, Sgt. Lisa Forbes — was ok.
As he spoke of Northrup's death, Zameer began to cry in the witness box again. He apologized several times to the officer's children, turning towards the seating area in the court gallery for the officer's family.
"I didn't mean to hurt your dad," Zameer said. "I just wish I could bring him back."
Northrup left behind a wife and three children. His widow was present in the public gallery for some of Zameer's testimony on Thursday afternoon.
Zameer said his "heart bleeds" for the officer's family. He said he knows himself about the "father and son bond." The 34-year-old accountant is now a father of three, though he only had one son at the time of the incident.
Officer was unmissable: prosecution
During cross-examination on Thursday, the Crown frequently referenced Northrup's frame of about 300 pounds and six foot three height. Crown prosecutor Karen Simone said Zameer could see Northrup throughout their interaction that night, including when he ran him over.
"He's huge, he's a big guy. I'm going to suggest to you, sir, that you couldn't miss him," Simone said to Zameer.
Court saw security camera footage which the Crown said showed Northrup in front of the BMW, before Zameer ran him over. But Zameer said he only saw Northrup when both officers first approached the car. When he looked behind him prior to reversing the BMW and in front of him before driving forward, he said nobody was there.
Zameer, who said he is typically a cautious driver, said he didn't check his blind spots before reversing. "I have never driven a car under those circumstances ever before," he said, citing the banging, shouting and fear for his family.
The Crown argued Zameer reversed and drove forward at a high speed to get over Northrup. The officer's body then travelled under the car for several meters, Simone said.
Zameer said he only felt the car initially go up and over what he thought was a speed bump.
Officers didn't identify themselves: accused
Simone also suggested Zameer could see that both officers who approached his car were wearing police badges. But Zameer said he did not see any badge on the pair at the time.
Crown counsel also said Northrup and Forbes told Zameer that they were police when they first approached his car. However, Zameer said the pair never identified themselves as police.
"Why wouldn't I stop if they [said] 'police?' Why wouldn't I talk to them?" Zameer said. "I didn't do anything wrong."
Court has previously heard that Northrup and his partner — both dressed in plain clothes — were investigating a stabbing when they went into the garage underneath Toronto City Hall. Zameer was not involved in the stabbing.
Crown prosecutors allege Zameer chose to make a series of manoeuvres with his car that caused Northrup's death, but the defence says the officer's death was a tragic accident.
Defence lawyers say neither Zameer nor his wife knew the people who approached them in the largely empty parking garage were police officers.
The trial continues on Friday.
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With files from The Canadian Press