“It’s very difficult to let go. I mean, everyone tells me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone just isn’t here. [anymore]. So I don’t know how I’m going to move forward.”
That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in an interview Tuesday.
A jury found the 34-year-old accountant not guilty on Sunday following a week-long trial that looked at the events of July 2, 2021, when Toronto Police Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup was run over by Zameer in the Nathan Phillips Square underground parking lot shortly after midnight. Northrup was taken to the hospital where he died.
‘A nightmare’
“That night was a nightmare for us. And I don’t know when it will disappear. But that night and then the days that followed and then the years, I don’t know how long it will haunt us,” she said.
Zameer had pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge filed in connection with the incident.
He was in his car with his pregnant wife and young son after Canada Day celebrations in the downtown square when Northrup and his partner, both in civilian clothes at the time, approached their vehicle in the parking lot while investigating a stabbing in the area. Zameer was not involved in the stabbing and said he did not know the two were police officers.
Northrup’s partner, Det. Const. Lisa Forbes testified that she had repeatedly identified herself as a police officer and hit the car and screamed when Zameer began driving. But Zameer told the court he thought his family was being attacked.
When an unmarked police van blocked Zameer’s path, he reversed, making what two accident reconstruction experts told the court was indirect contact with Northrup, and accelerated forward. Northrup was on the ground when he was hit by Zameer’s vehicle, both experts testified. Zameer and his wife, who was also present at Tuesday’s interview, told the court that they thought they had passed through an obstacle and did not know that Northrup had been hit until the unmarked van collided with their vehicle at the exit gate and was arrested. .
Zameer’s wife ‘shocked’ by police comments
Zameer’s wife, Aaida Shaikh, recalled speaking to police after the incident and said she hoped their statements would help clarify the situation. But she said she was surprised when then-Toronto Police Chief James Ramer told reporters that Northrup’s death was “deliberate” hours later.
“I was shocked because I told them everything. How come they say the opposite? I was in shock. Confused. Betrayed. Because the police are there to help us, but unfortunately it was the opposite,” she said.
In addition to Ramer’s comments, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and then-Toronto Mayor John Tory also weighed in on the case, with the former calling Zameer’s bail release two months after the incident “completely unacceptable”.
On Tuesday, in some of his first comments on the case since then, Ford said he respected the court’s decision.
- Watch the full interview in the player above
“What happened was a very sad situation… my heart goes out to Margaret and her family as well,” he said, referring to Northrup’s widow.
“At that time I had limited information. The courts have decided, the jury decided and we must respect the justice system.”
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw also clarified his stance on the case, after saying he expected “a different outcome” following news of the acquittal.
“Let me be very clear: I support and accept the jury’s verdict,” Demkiw said at a news conference at Toronto police headquarters on Tuesday. “I have always been a supporter of the justice process, including all elements of the system that lead us to justice.”
A day earlier, Demkiw announced he had ordered the Ontario Provincial Police to conduct an “independent review” after Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy raised concerns about the reliability of the officers’ testimony at trial. Molloy had previously told jurors that the officers’ testimony at the center of the case did not match the physical evidence and advised them to be on the lookout for possible collusion.
“My sincerest apologies for what has happened,” he told Zameer before leaving the courtroom Sunday after the verdict was delivered.
Zameer and his family sold property to cover legal expenses
Zameer said the financial impacts of the case have been immense and that he and members of his family sold property to cover the cost of his $335,000 bail and ongoing legal expenses.
“Financially I can’t even start,” he said, wondering what he would have done without the support of his family.
“What would I have done if I didn’t have these people? Yes, God forbid, something like this happened to someone else and they don’t have a family. What would they have done? she asked.
Since then, a GoFundMe campaign launched by Shaikh in 2021 has raised more than $211,000, with the bulk of the donations coming after the acquittal.
Zameer has said it is too early to say whether he is considering bringing a claim against the police or the Crown.
Zameer told his children that he was working on a “big project” during the trial.
Zameer, a father of three, said he told his children he had been working on a “big project” when the trial began to shield them from the reality of the high-stakes legal battle he was fighting.
After the not guilty verdict was returned, Zameer said he told one of his sons that he had “won” the project.
“The first thing he asked was, ‘Can you ask me out now?’ Because all these three years I couldn’t pick him up,” Zameer said, referring to his bail conditions, which required him to stay home at all times.
Shaikh said she and her husband had “hoped” for the day when Zameer would be acquitted of first-degree murder so their relationship with their children could return to normal, but they worried that day would ever come.
“You can’t explain to the children why Baba can’t leave the house with you. Why can’t he go swimming with you,” he said. “You know, those little things matter. And now we are also kind of stuck. As if we had forgotten how to live.”
When asked if he believes he is owed an apology following Sunday’s decision, Zameer said he and his wife just want to “move on” and spend time with their children.