Lawyers for Umar Zameer ‘set record straight’ after OPP investigation, Ford’s call for judge apology

Lawyer for a man acquitted in a high-profile Toronto murder trial where a police officer was killed are calling for a public inquiry into the “secretive process” behind a recent Ontario Provincial Police report that re-examines evidence from the trial.

Umar Zameer’s lawyer Nader Hasan said at a news conference Thursday that the OPP and Toronto Police Service must publicly release the “purported” accident reconstruction report to restore faith in the police agencies.

He said he wants to “set the record straight” in a “chilling moment in the Canadian justice system.”

“We anticipated nothing good, but what we got was far worse, ” he said. “These types of reviews invariably range from the inadequate to outright whitewashing.”

The long-awaited OPP report released on Tuesday found Toronto Police Service officers involved in the investigation into the 2021 death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup did not lie. It also raised “significant concerns” with the collision theories posed by two separate expert witnesses in Umar Zameer’s trial, including a Toronto police officer.

The OPP’s reconstruction of the scene — using evidence “the TPS reconstructionist and defense engineer did not identify or note” — concluded that Northrup was standing in front of Umar Zameer’s vehicle when it “plowed him along the ground,” said the report. 

The report, which was requested by Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw, comes years after Northrup was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by Zameer in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall on July 1, 2021.

WATCH | Zameer’s lawyer Nader Hasan speaks out about OPP review:

Umar Zameer’s lawyer Nader Hasan says testimony probe should have used civil review, not OPP

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Hasan said the Toronto police tried to “railroad an innocent man” and that Demkiw “had the audacity” to question the trial’s verdict.

The OPP’s work also amounts to “utter incompetence or something far worse” and the only way to restore public faith in the TPS and OPP is through an independent inquiry, he said.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he said, adding evidence was “heavily scrutinized” throughout the trial process and that prosecutors chose not to appeal the acquittal.

“This is not a fresh investigation. It’s advocacy on the part of the police dressed up as a fresh investigation.”

Zameer, who was charged with first-degree murder, pleaded not guilty and testified he didn’t know Northrup and his partner — who were in plainclothes during the incident — were police officers. He was acquitted in 2024.

Lawyer questions why OPP haven’t shared ‘new’ evidence

There is “no new evidence” that has been revealed in the OPP’s report, said Hasan, adding the report’s theory is a “shameful embarrassment.”

“The so-called new accident reconstruction theory put forward by the OPP … is the exact same theory the Crown put forward at trial and the jury rejected,” he said.

“If the OPP reconstruction uncovered new evidence, than why haven’t they shared it?”

He said it was “rather curious” that OPP were not taking questions on the report they produced.

Allegations made by the witness officers that Northrup had his hands up in a laneway was identified as “a lie” by the judge and jury in the trial, he said. 

There would have been evidence if that had happened, Hasan said, but that was not identified by any experts at the time. 

“As anyone with an ounce of common sense would agree, if a car smacks head on into a six foot four, 300 pound individual, there would be physical evidence on the car,” he said. 

Allegations of collusion between the officers “were based on more than simply being together on the night of the accident,” he said.

Hasan said the officers provided the “same, demonstrably false testimony” about Northrup being in front of the car.

A sketch artist’s rendering of the jury delivering its verdict in 2024. Umar Zameer, pictured on the left, between his lawyers, was found not guilty of all criminal charges. (Alexandra Newbould)

Demand for judge apology ‘absolutely Trumpian’: lawyer

At an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Ford called on the judge in Zameer’s trial to apologize to the witness officers who she accused of possible collusion. 

Ford’s remarks echo those made by Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell at a Tuesday news conference.

“It is absolutely Trumpian,” said Hasan, adding the only apology that’s owed is one from Ford and Demkiw for “trying to undermine the administration of justice and the sanctity of criminal trials.”

“It’s really dangerous, because it’s a real collateral attack on our system, the core of our system,” he said.

Hasan added Zameer has not sued, “yet.” Doing so would keep the story in the public eye longer and won’t give Zameer or Northrup’s family the closure to move on, said Hasan.

He said Zameer was not consulted at any point in the OPP investigation.

WATCH | Widow of Toronto officer speaks after 2024 verdict:

Police chief, widow of Toronto officer express disappointment in Zameer verdict

Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw and the widow of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup reacted outside the courthouse after Umar Zameer was found not guilty of murder in the 2021 death of the police officer. ‘From day one, all I’ve wanted was accountability,’ Margaret Northrup said.

Independent inquiry needed to rebuild trust: CCLA lawyer

The Toronto police board should call for an independent inquiry to look into the report, trial and evidence in order to “respond to the lack of trust in the process that we’ve seen play out,” said Shakir Rahim, lawyer and director of the criminal justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

“The premier and the police association have framed this case as the judicial system versus the police,” Rahim told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning Thursday. 

He said the OPP’s report itself claims the judge’s decision was made based on the evidence presented in the trial, and that the judge did not have access to any new evidence used by more recent investigators. 

“In this case, where there has been no allegation of impropriety made against the judge … it makes that kind of intervention by the premier wholly inappropriate,” he said.

“It is very unclear why there should be any obligation on a judge to apologize.”

Rahim said the premier also criticized the decision to grant bail to Zamir in 2021 and, after the trial, Demkiw “suggested that a different outcome was hoped for.”

WATCH | OPP report clears Toronto officers of collusion accusations:

OPP report clears 3 officers of lying accusations: police chief

A new report says there is no evidence three Toronto police officers officers lied, colluded or committed any criminal offence in the case of a man accused of fatally running over their colleague.

Police “intentionally” chose a “flawed and biased process,” instead of going down a public and independent path to review the trials findings, said Criminal Lawyers’ Association president Adam Weisberg in an emailed statement Thursday.

The OPP report, he said, “was a repackaging of the evidence already heard by an impartial jury.”

“Police investigators appointed themselves judge and jury and retried the case by accepting novel theories never tested at trial,” said Weisberg, adding judges “cannot and should not” apologize for a decision.