Umar Zameer, right, leaves a Toronto courthouse on April 19. Mr. Zameer was acquitted by a jury that rejected the Crown’s argument that he had deliberately hit a Toronto police constable in an underground parking garage in 2021.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
A Toronto police officer who witnessed her partner get run over by a car says she will co-operate with an external investigation that was called after a judge criticized the testimony she and two others gave at the trial of Umar Zameer.
Mr. Zameer was acquitted last weekend by a jury that rejected the Crown’s argument that he had deliberately hit Constable Jeffrey Northrup in an underground parking garage in 2021. In her instructions to jurors, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy cautioned them to consider whether the three police witnesses colluded in a common narrative. After the verdict, Justice Molloy apologized to Mr. Zameer for his ordeal.
Sergeant Lisa Forbes, Constable Northrup’s partner, issued a statement through her lawyer Wednesday saying she will comply with the external investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police. Toronto’s police chief called for the probe as a result of Justice Molloy’s comments.
“Despite the deep wound the announced review is keeping open, Lisa welcomes the review, will co-operate with it fully,” lawyer David Butt said in a text message.
“No one who has not experienced a similar tragedy can possibly imagine how devastating it is to lose a beloved colleague.”
He declined further comment.
Mr. Zameer had been charged with killing Constable Northrup with an SUV during a July 2, 2021, collision. He told court he panicked when plainclothes police officers suddenly rushed and surrounded his car, and ordered him out. Video evidence backed Mr. Zameer’s account that he rapidly reversed his car to get away, and did not see Constable Northrup knocked down to the ground before he drove forward.
Sgt. Forbes and two other officers testified during trial that they recalled seeing Constable Northrup standing up and waving his arms before he was struck, but two collision reconstruction experts, including the prosecution’s, testified that it did not happen that way.
After the verdict, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said he shared “the feelings of our members who were hoping for a different outcome.”
After a storm of controversy, the chief said he never meant to publicly question the criminal justice system.
In Ontario, a new Community Safety and Policing Act, which came into force on April 1, includes a revised police Code of Conduct. The code threatens sanctions against any police officer, or police commander, who would “deceive or mislead any person” or who would “interfere in the administration of justice.”
Chief Demkiw also announced that he has asked the Ontario Provincial Police to probe the judge’s “adverse comments” about Toronto Police, including “with respect to officer testimony.”
No one representing the other two officers who testified returned requests for an interview.
The union representing rank and file officers on Canada’s largest municipal police force says it will be backing all the officers.
“The Toronto Police Association continues to provide support to all members involved in the trial and/or those who have been deeply impacted by Jeff’s death,” said union president Jon Reid.
In an statement e-mailed by his office, Mr. Reid said that misremembering “is a human frailty everyone experiences” but misleading is a Code of Conduct offence for police.
He said that is not a new measure.
“The previous Code of Conduct included the offence of deceit, defined as to ‘willfully or negligently make a false, misleading, or inaccurate statement pertaining to official duties,’” he said.
Colin Freeze