The Crown has closed its case against Umar Zameer, a 34-year-old accountant on trial for the first-degree murder of Toronto police Const. Jeffrey Northrup in the underground parking garage beneath Nathan Phillips Square.
The key issue in this high-profile trial, is whether Zameer knew Northrup — working in plainclothes that evening — was a police officer when he ran him over with his BMW, and did he do so deliberately, or was this a horrific, tragic accident?
The hood of Umar Zameer’s BMW, seen here in a police photograph taken after Const. Jeffrey Northrup was killed on July 2, 2021. The defence argues there is no physical evidence — such as a dent — to support the claim Zameer drove directly at the 300-pound officer, intentionally striking him with the front of the car.
Umar Zameer, centre, arrives with his lawyers at the 361 University Ave. court in Toronto on April 2.