A man accused of killing a Toronto police officer nearly three years ago acted reasonably under fear of an imminent threat to his heavily pregnant wife and two-year-old son, defence counsel said as the jury heard closing arguments on Wednesday.
But Crown prosecutors say Umar Zameer, 34, charged with first-degree murder, made a series of deliberate and dangerous manoeuvres while protected in his locked car, killing Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup, 55, on July 2, 2021.
Northrup was run over by a car in a parking garage under Toronto City Hall while investigating a stabbing with his partner, Sgt. Lisa Forbes. Both officers were in plainclothes at the time.
“[Zameer] took Officer Northrup’s life as he accelerated in the laneway, continuing to drive with Officer Northrup rolling, thudding under his vehicle,” Crown prosecutor Karen Simone said during her closing statement.
“He never stopped,” she added.
During his testimony, Zameer said Northrup and Forbes did not identify themselves as police when they rushed towards his car, with his young family inside, in the largely empty parking lot around midnight.
Over the course of the five-week trial, court also heard from Zameer’s wife, Aaida Shaikh, Forbes and several officers involved in the incident and its immediate aftermath.
Speaking to jurors in a full courtroom, defence lawyer Nader Hasan described Zameer as a “family man” who had no intention of killing Northrup and only drove to escape what he thought was real harm to his family.
“He believed genuinely, earnestly, these were people that he thought were criminals coming to attack him,” Hasan said.
To convict Zameer of first-degree murder, the jury must be convinced the accused knew Northrup was a police officer in the execution of his duties at the time of running him over, Simone said. If they are not convinced, the Crown asked the jury to convict Zameer of second-degree murder.
The Crown also asked the jury to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter, arguing that Zameer’s driving that night constitutes dangerous driving.
“His actions were deliberate,” Simone said. “Regrettable, of course, but nonetheless criminal.”
Umar Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who died after he was hit by a car in an underground parking garage in Toronto on July 2, 2021. CBC’s Greg Ross breaks down the evidence presented in court.
Accused only sought to escape, defence says
Court has heard Zameer locked his car doors after Northrup and Forbes first approached his car. The pair then began banging on his car, loud enough that his child started crying in the backseat.
Zameer attempted to drive forwards out of the parking spot but an unmarked police van blocked him, Hasan said. He said the van’s appearance “changed everything,” as Zameer now thought his family was being ambushed by a gang. The van’s movement was also an unlawful detention by police, Hasan added.
After Zameer was boxed in, he reversed out of the parking spot at an accelerated speed. As he reversed, defence said he unknowingly delivered a “glancing contact” to Northrup, knocking the officer to the ground in the laneway of the car.
Northrup fell within the car’s blind zone, meaning he was not visible to Zameer when Zameer drove forward and ran him over, Hasan said, referencing expert testimony from a crash reconstructionist previously called by the defence.
“Every single one of [Zameer’s] movements were aimed at getting away, at escaping,” Hasan said.
Defence counsel described Northrup’s death as a tragedy that took place within a matter of seconds but said Zameer is not guilty of murder.
“I urge you not to compound tragedy with injustice,” Hasan said to the jury.
Both Shaikh and Northrup’s widow were in the courtroom on Wednesday.
Officer’s size crucial to the Crown’s case
Simone said it was “inconceivable” Zameer did not see, feel or hear Northrup after running him over, as he had previously testified. Court heard that the officer travelled under Zameer’s car for several metres after he was run over.
Zameer and his wife both testified they thought they had hit a speed bump.
“Speed bumps don’t travel,” Simone said during her closing statement on Wednesday.
The Crown prosecutor repeatedly referred to Northrup’s large frame of almost 300 pounds and his height of 6’3″. “He was huge and visible,” she said.
Zameer accelerated his car to get over Northrup’s body, Simone said. She cited evidence from a police crash expert, Jeff Bassingthwaite, called by the Crown, who compared the acceleration required to that needed if a car was trying to go up a hill. Bassingthwaite also testified “thumping” would be heard as Northrup travelled under the car.
Zameer previously testified he was driving fast to quickly get away from Northrup, Forbes and the van. He said he checked his path before reversing and driving forward, not seeing anything in his way both times.
Cops lied on the stand: defence
Defence also argued that police officers called to testify by the Crown lied repeatedly under oath during the trial.
Hasan told the court that three officers who witnessed the incident, including Forbes, lied in the witness box when they testified Northrup was standing up in the middle of the laneway in front of Zameer’s car, with his hands outstretched, when he was run over.
“[Northrup] was never standing up in the middle of laneway one with his arms up, bracing for impact,” Hasan said. “That was a complete lie.”
Two crash reconstruction experts, one of them called by the Crown, told the court they concluded Northrup was knocked down by the car reversing and was already on the ground when he was run over by it moving forward.
The officers were “exactly the same and equally wrong” in their descriptions of the moment before Northrup was hit, he added.
Defence counsel referred to security camera footage of the parking garage showing an unidentified object, believed to be Northrup, appear on the ground in front of the car, as it drives forward in the laneway.
In response, the Crown read out testimony from the three officers and said the accounts were not identical. Simone also said the officers observed the incident from different vantage points in the parking garage.
Officers Antonio Correa and Scharnil Pais, both testified that Northrup fell on the hood after he was hit, and then slid off — a specific detail that was not supported by physical evidence or expert analysis, defence said. Hasan said the two officers wrote their police notes about the incident together, and then lied in the witness box about doing so.
Though Correa testified he wrote his police notes alone, and Pais said he couldn’t remember where he was at the time he wrote his, another officer, Det.-Const. Ryan D’Souza, testified all the officers were all in the same room when they wrote their notes.
“[Correa and Pais] colluded together, and then lied about colluding together,” Hasan said. “They lied in this court and they lied unapologetically.”
After closing statements concluded, Justice Anne Molloy began her lengthy charge to the jury on Wednesday afternoon. The instructions will continue on Thursday before the jury is sequestered.