The defence’s crash reconstructionist expert is being cross-examined Tuesday in the trial of a man charged with killing a Toronto cop nearly three years ago.
Umar Zameer pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup.
Northrup died on July 2, 2021, after he was struck by a car while investigating a stabbing in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall.
Crash reconstructionist Barry Raftery previously testified that Northrup was on the ground in the car’s blind zone at the time Zameer ran him over, meaning the officer was not visible to the accused.
“I’m an engineer, I look at the physical evidence,” Raftery said on Tuesday when asked by Crown counsel whether he had read Zameer’s account of July 2 before coming to his conclusions.
Jeff Bassingthwaite, a police crash reconstructionist previously called by Crown prosecutors, told the court he concluded the officer had been knocked to the ground by the car reversing, before he was run over by it going forward.
However, three officers who witnessed the incident testified Northrup was standing in the middle of the garage laneway with his hands up when he was run over.
Raftery said he had read transcripts of audio statements given by the three officers on the evening of July 2.
Zameer is expected to testify for the first time on Tuesday afternoon.