Report expected into Toronto police accused of colluding in the trial surrounding death of one of their own
An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) report examining the conduct of investigators from a high-profile murder trial into the death of a Toronto police officer where a judge accused responding officers of lying and collusion is expected to be unveiled Tuesday.
The report comes years after the 2021 death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who was struck and killed by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall.
Umar Zameer, who was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the case, pleaded not guilty and testified he didn't know Northrup and his partner — who were in plainclothes at the time of the incident — were Toronto police officers.
The officers were investigating a stabbing that happened earlier that night. But Zameer was not connected to that incident in any way, according to court documents, nor did he match a suspect description from the stabbing.
Zameer was later acquitted in 2024.
The trial focused on whether Zameer meant to run over Northrup, or even realized it had happened, and whether he knew the constable and his partner were police officers.
Zameer testified he thought his family was being ambushed by criminals when two strangers ran over and started banging on his car, where he was sitting at the time with his pregnant wife and two-year-old son.
Judge raises spectre of collusion
In her final instructions to the jury, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy told jurors to consider the possibility that three officers who served as the prosecution's key witnesses had colluded.
In a written decision linked to the case, Molloy went even further. She said it was possible that two of the officers involved — constables Scharnil Pais and Antonio Correa — hadn't seen what happened that night, but decided to back up an account of the incident from Northrup's partner, Const. Lisa Forbes.
All three had the same incorrect memory that Northrup was standing in a laneway with his arms outstretched when he was struck, Molloy said during jury instructions.
She went on to write in the decision that it was possible all three officers had made up this story because they didn't see what happened and that she thought their account was "logical," or that the officers had "invented" the story to put themselves in a better light.
"Perhaps we will never know what they actually saw. The one thing I know for sure, however, is that Officers Pais and Correa did not see Officer Northrup standing upright while being run down by Mr. Zameer," Molloy wrote.
"Further, the fact that their versions dovetail so closely with each other and with Officer Forbes leads me to the inexorable conclusion that they not only lied, but they colluded to lie."
TPS chief asks for OPP review
Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw asked the OPP to conduct an independent review of the case after Molloy's comments came to light, alongside a full internal review of all aspects of plainclothes policing.
"The OPP has extensive experience conducting complex investigations across Ontario and was well positioned to carry out a thorough and impartial review," Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said in an email Monday.
"Given the public interest in this matter, the report will be released in full."
Police said last week they had received the report and would review it and brief "affected individuals" about the findings before releasing it.
Those briefings did not include Zameer or his lawyer, Nader Hasan, who said in a statement that he has "serious misgivings" about the report. Neither he nor his client will have seen the report before it's made public, nor has anyone from the OPP contacted them about the investigation, he said.
Hasan said turning to provincial police for the investigation was "a curious choice."
"There are various ways that [Toronto police] could have triggered a truly independent public review of the egregious police misconduct at issue here, yet they chose to have their misconduct reviewed by another police agency," he said, noting the history of police forces investigating one another is "not good."
"We await the release of this report with serious misgivings," he said. "Although I would love to be proven wrong, this process does not inspire confidence that this review has been undertaken in good faith."
An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) report examining the conduct of investigators from a high-profile murder trial into the death of a Toronto police officer where a judge accused responding officers of lying and collusion is expected to be unveiled Tuesday.
The report comes years after the 2021 death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who was struck and killed by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall.
Umar Zameer, who was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the case, pleaded not guilty and testified he didn't know Northrup and his partner — who were in plainclothes at the time of the incident — were Toronto police officers.
The officers were investigating a stabbing that happened earlier that night. But Zameer was not connected to that incident in any way, according to court documents, nor did he match a suspect description from the stabbing.
Zameer was later acquitted in 2024.
The trial focused on whether Zameer meant to run over Northrup, or even realized it had happened, and whether he knew the constable and his partner were police officers.
Zameer testified he thought his family was being ambushed by criminals when two strangers ran over and started banging on his car, where he was sitting at the time with his pregnant wife and two-year-old son.
Judge raises spectre of collusion
In her final instructions to the jury, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy told jurors to consider the possibility that three officers who served as the prosecution's key witnesses had colluded.
In a written decision linked to the case, Molloy went even further. She said it was possible that two of the officers involved — constables Scharnil Pais and Antonio Correa — hadn't seen what happened that night, but decided to back up an account of the incident from Northrup's partner, Const. Lisa Forbes.
All three had the same incorrect memory that Northrup was standing in a laneway with his arms outstretched when he was struck, Molloy said during jury instructions.
She went on to write in the decision that it was possible all three officers had made up this story because they didn't see what happened and that she thought their account was "logical," or that the officers had "invented" the story to put themselves in a better light.
"Perhaps we will never know what they actually saw. The one thing I know for sure, however, is that Officers Pais and Correa did not see Officer Northrup standing upright while being run down by Mr. Zameer," Molloy wrote.
"Further, the fact that their versions dovetail so closely with each other and with Officer Forbes leads me to the inexorable conclusion that they not only lied, but they colluded to lie."
TPS chief asks for OPP review
Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw asked the OPP to conduct an independent review of the case after Molloy's comments came to light, alongside a full internal review of all aspects of plainclothes policing.
"The OPP has extensive experience conducting complex investigations across Ontario and was well positioned to carry out a thorough and impartial review," Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said in an email Monday.
"Given the public interest in this matter, the report will be released in full."
Police said last week they had received the report and would review it and brief "affected individuals" about the findings before releasing it.
Those briefings did not include Zameer or his lawyer, Nader Hasan, who said in a statement that he has "serious misgivings" about the report. Neither he nor his client will have seen the report before it's made public, nor has anyone from the OPP contacted them about the investigation, he said.
Hasan said turning to provincial police for the investigation was "a curious choice."
"There are various ways that [Toronto police] could have triggered a truly independent public review of the egregious police misconduct at issue here, yet they chose to have their misconduct reviewed by another police agency," he said, noting the history of police forces investigating one another is "not good."
"We await the release of this report with serious misgivings," he said. "Although I would love to be proven wrong, this process does not inspire confidence that this review has been undertaken in good faith."
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