Umar Zameer, of Woodbridge north of Toronto, was released two months after his arrest on $335,000 bail.
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Umar Zameer, kneeling, in front of Officer Pais a few minutes after his arrest on July 2, 2021. An order of the court prevents us from showing his face.
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At Umar Zameer's trial, a police officer concedes he had no reason to arrest any man at brown skin after receiving a description of the assailant police were seeking in connection with a stabbing in downtown Toronto.
The 34-year-old is accused of the premeditated murder of Officer Jeffrey Northrup in the underground parking lot of City Hall in 2021.
Officer Scharnil Pais is the second police officer to present to the jury another perspective of what happened on the night of July 1-2, 2021, when Umar Zameer killed Officer Northrup driving his car.
He claims he received a call from his dispatcher at 11:47 p.m. to go to Nathan Phillips Place about a stabbing.
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He explains that he received the assailant's report by radio transmitter and that he would like to follow up on the attack. He was a brown-skinned man, about 6 feet tall with thick hair and a long beard.
It turns out that the suspect resembled Umar Zameer, whose family had encountered a man with an abdomen wound while returning to the city hall parking lot that night.
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Paramedics and police come to the aid of an individual who suffered a knife wound to the abdomen on the night of July 1, 2021. Sgt Forbes is in shorts on the left.
Agent Pais says he walked down to the garage and encountered other Major Crimes Squad officers who were also dressed in civilian clothes and that they shared the search area because of the size of the parking lot.
He adds that he and Agent Correa went back to Nathan Phillips Square to retrieve their unmarked vehicle to participate in the search, but by car.
He states that they spoke briefly with Forbes and Northrup. We had to gather information from motorists in the garage, he said.
Agent Pais specifies that his colleagues headed towards a BMW on the other side of the parking lane and that Correa went around in the opposite lane to join them.
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Agent Jeffrey Northrup was crushed in the parking lot below Toronto City Hall on the night of July 1 to 2, 2021.
Arriving in front of the BMW, Officer Pais claims that& #x27;he saw that it was occupied by a brown-skinned man and a woman in a hijab.
Forbes and Northrup were on the driver's side, waving their badges and shouting ''Police, pull over'' , he explains.
He emphasizes that his two colleagues were not armed and that the passenger waved her right arm in front of the guard -breeze [as if to tell them to move away, Editor's note].
Officer Pais claims that everything happened very quickly, that the BMW advanced towards the unmarked car which was blocking its path and that it then reversed to change lanes.
He adds that Officer Northrup was then brushed by the car and that Officer Forbes shouted What the f***.
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Zameer's BMW made the subject to careful forensic inspection by investigators.
He points out that his colleague fell forward and that the driver of the BMW drove off faster, this time killing the police officer.
He rolled over her body without stopping while fleeing towards the exit of the garage, he said.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">He assures that he was only 2 or 3 m from the stage. Officer Northrup put his hands in front of him before being caught, bouncing off the hood and falling to the roadway, he recalled.
He maintained that the BMW disappeared around a bend amid screeching tires.
We were in shock and Agent Forbes told us to pursue him while she gave treatment to our colleague, he continues.
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Officers Correa's unmarked police car and Pais on the night of July 2, 2021 near a city hall garage exit.
Agent Pais adds that it was easy to catch up with the suspect exiting the garage, because the barrier was lowered and that Another car was stopped in front of the pay terminal.
He specifies that agent Correa collided with the BMW and that the impact was so violent that the air bags of their vehicle deployed.
He claims that he then got out and walked towards the passenger's door while his colleague did the same on the driver's side.
He explains that he pulled the woman by the wrist because she did not want to get out of the BMW. She was screaming, shaking and hyperventilating, he said.
He points out that the woman had asked him if the person her husband had hit was OK.
I “I didn't know if Jeffrey was dead, but I assumed the worst,” he continues.
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The same police vehicle of agents Correa and Pais from another angle.
Officer Pais claims the woman then asked him to take her son in the back seat of the car.
He said he offered the woman and her son water, putting them in the back of his unmarked car before calling an ambulance, because she was pregnant.
He specifies that his teammate had in the meantime taken Zameer down and asked him to kneel, because he did not have his handcuffs on him.
I told him to go put on his police vest like I did before joining him, he said.
Officer Pais adds that he then told the accused that he was under arrest for homicide and dangerous driving.
Officer Pais acknowledges that the parking lot was deserted, that it was dark, but that the garage was well lit. He confirms that the windows of his vehicle were indeed tinted.
He claims that he had a good description of the assailant at knife, but pressed with questions by lawyer Nader Hasan, he admits that he only learned from the description that it was a man with brown skin.
That's right, I had no reason to arrest any brown-skinned man that night, he confided.
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Umar Zameer, his 8-month-old pregnant wife and their 2-year-old son in the elevator leading to the city hall garage Toronto on the night of the murder.
Mr. Nader asked Officer Pais if he had not understood that the Zameer family was confused to see strangers approaching their car banging their fists on the hood before seeing a vehicle blocking their path.
Agent Pais assures that Officer Northrup only tapped his hand on the driver's window to get his attention.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">I can't know if they were scared, it's possible, but we clearly identified ourselves when our vehicle collided with their BMW , he concludes.
