Umar Zameer and his lawyers walk away from the Toronto courthouse following his not guilty verdict on April 21, 2024.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says a judge should apologize for accusing three Toronto police officers of collusion in a trial that acquitted a man of running over and murdering a fourth officer – after the Ontario Provincial Police attempted to cast doubt on the accusation this week.
Mr. Ford was asked if an OPP report on the case, released Tuesday, was enough to restore public confidence in the police, given that OPP investigators had never contacted Umar Zameer, the man who was found not guilty of first-degree murder in the 2021 death of a plainclothes detective, or his lawyer.
“Well, it cleared the police officers. And maybe the judge should apologize for accusing them of everything under the sun, that’s a first step,” Mr. Ford told reporters at an event on Wednesday in Wellington North, Ont. “Full disclosure, I love our police. I love all our police services across the province.”
OPP probe finds Toronto officers didn’t collude when testifying at Umar Zameer murder trial
It’s not the first time Mr. Ford has weighed in on this case. In 2021, long before the 2024 verdict, he said it was “completely unacceptable” for Mr. Zameer to be granted bail pending his trial, calling the act a “heinous crime.” Mr. Ford later said he made the comments with “limited information.”
Ontario’s Premier frequently criticizes the judiciary, questioning rulings that have gone against his government and blaming “bleeding heart” judges for being too soft on criminals.
His Progressive Conservative government has removed safeguards meant to prevent political interference in the process for appointing lower-court judges. And last year, he labelled judicial independence “a joke” while calling for U.S.-style elected judges – remarks that prompted an unprecedented joint response from the province’s top judges.
Mr. Ford’s comments on the Zameer case on Wednesday echoed the reaction to the report from the head of the Toronto Police Association, Clayton Campbell. On Tuesday, he also called on the judge, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy, to apologize.
The OPP probe concluded that officers were not dishonest when they testified at the 2024 first-degree murder trial in the death of Detective Constable Jeffrey Northrup.
Toronto Police asked the OPP to review the conduct and testimony of three officers after the acquittal of Mr. Zameer, who had been charged after he drove over Det. Constable Northrup in a chaotic series of events in an underground parking garage in 2021.
Justice Molloy told the jury that they should consider the possibility that the three officers had colluded and been dishonest about what they saw because, she said, their statements were inconsistent with expert evidence about how Det. Constable Northrup was run over.
In remarks made after Mr. Zameer’s acquittal, Justice Molloy also said that because two of the officers’ accounts dovetailed so closely with the testimony of the third officer, she was left with the “inexorable conclusion that they not only lied, but they colluded to lie.”
Umar Zameer found not guilty in death of Toronto police officer
In the OPP’s investigative report, which was made public by Toronto Police on Tuesday, the provincial force concluded that a key detail of the officers’ testimony – where and how Det. Constable Northrup was struck by Mr. Zameer’s car – was accurate and “not evidence of intentional deceit or collusion.”
Although the report has no bearing on Mr. Zameer’s acquittal, the document attempts to cast doubt on the 2024 findings against the officers and reopen an issue outside the confines of the courtroom.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said at a news conference Tuesday that the officers – Det. Constables Lisa Forbes, Scharnil Pais and Antonio Correa – have been vindicated by the report.
The fatal encounter occurred late at night in the underground parking lot at Toronto’s City Hall, after Mr. Zameer left a Canada Day celebration with his pregnant wife and toddler son. They had just gotten into their BMW and their son wasn’t yet buckled into his car seat when two people began banging on their windows.
They were plainclothes police officers who were looking for a purported stabbing suspect with brown skin.
Terrified that he was being carjacked, Mr. Zameer locked the car doors and attempted to speed off. He testified at trial that he didn’t realize he’d hit anyone – never mind a police officer – until after his arrest.
At his trial in 2024, much debate hinged on the location of Det. Constable Northrup at the time that he was hit.
The three officers who’d been at the scene with him testified that he was standing up with his hands raised. But two collision reconstruction experts, one with the Toronto Police Service and one testifying for the defence, gave evidence at trial that the officer was likely already on the ground when he was run over – having fallen when Mr. Zameer first reversed before accelerating forward.
But the OPP’s reinvestigation of the case, which included engaging its own expert reconstructionist, concluded that the officers were correct and that Det. Constable Northrup was standing in front of the BMW when he was run over and killed. The report cites multiple reasons for this conclusion, including video analysis and an examination of the vehicle.
The Advocates’ Society, a lawyers group, issued a statement saying it strongly condemned calls for the judge to apologize and warning that they threatened judicial independence.
At the same event on Wednesday, Mr. Ford was asked about a police decision not to charge a man in Vaughan, Ont., who shot and injured an alleged home invader. The Premier suggested the man should have fired more bullets.
“Well, you know, these guys, they need to be shot,” Mr. Ford said, recounting other home invasion incidents and the killing of one man in front of his family. “ … Congratulations for shooting this guy. Should have shot him a couple more times, as far as I’m concerned.”
The Canadian Press reported Tuesday that York Regional Police will not lay charges against a resident who shot and injured an alleged home invader.
Police said Tuesday that the resident used a legally owned and properly stored gun. One of the suspected intruders was dropped off at a Toronto-area hospital with a gunshot wound, police said, and charges against him are pending.