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The defense of an individual accused of killing a police officer with his car in Toronto reveals numerous contradictions in the testimony of the key witness of the Crown. Umar Zameer is charged with the premeditated murder of Officer Jeffrey Northrup in the underground parking lot of Toronto City Hall on the night of July 1-2, 2021.
On the second day of cross-examination, defense lawyer Nader Hasan suggested that Sergeant Lisa Forbes exaggerated in her testimony the day before because she felt still feeling uneasy about the events of the night of the murder.
Me Hasan notes numerous contradictions between the policewoman's testimony at the trial and her testimony at preliminary investigation and its notes to police investigators on July 2, 2021.
Sgte Lisa Forbes, however, does not deviate from her version and denies lying on the witness stand.
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Me Hasan, for example, doubts that his client performed five maneuvers behind the wheel as the police officer maintains, but rather that he only performed three.
He backed up twice and hit Officer Northrup twice, disputes Sgt Forbes, who was the victim's teammate that evening.
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Umar Zameer, kneeling, in front of a police officer dressed in plain clothes a few minutes after his arrest on July 2, 2021.
The lawyer nevertheless maintains that the videos from the garage's surveillance cameras contradict the police officer's account and that Officer Northrup was not catapulted into looks like she claims.
It is difficult to see Agent Northrup, but Mr. Hasan assures that we do not see the victim being hit by his client's car.
Seeing the video recording that she had never seen before, Sgte Forbes recognizes that we does not see his late colleague.
Overwhelmed by emotion, the police officer began to cry and asked the judge for a break to compose herself.
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The entrance to the city hall garage, right in front of where the murder occurred.
On the way back, Sgt Forbes maintains that she vividly remembers seeing Officer Northrup standing in front of the car raising his arms perpendicularly forward to signal the accused to stop .
Could it be possible that you are embellishing your statements, because you are uncomfortable?, asks Me Hasan.
Sgt Forbes categorically rejects the allegation. I keep replaying in my head what happened that night, she replies.
Your memory, however, does not match the objective evidence in this case, replies the lawyer.
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Officer Jeffrey Northrup was crushed to death in the parking lot beneath Toronto City Hall on the night of July 1-2, 2021.
For defense, it is clear that the police made a mistake about the person. They were searching for an assailant that night near City Hall in connection with a knife attack. The victim of the attack gave Sgt Forbes a description of his attacker and it turns out he looked like the accused.
The Crown had made it clear to the jury that Umar Zameer was not the stabbing attacker and the trial demonstrated, videos at #x27;support, that the family of the accused had encountered a shirtless man injured in the abdomen while returning to the city hall parking lot.
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Paramedics and police officers come to help to an individual who was stabbed in the abdomen on the night of July 1, 2021. Sgt Forbes is in shorts on the left.
Me Hasan then shows Sgte Forbes the photo of the accused when he was arrested a few minutes after the officer's death Northrup.
The individual has a dark complexion, but he wears a trimmed and very short beard and he does not have at all a thick hair as she had described it. He didn't have a long beard and his hair was short, she admits.
The defense lawyer explained on Wednesday that his client had feared for the lives of his pregnant wife and their son and that' he thought they were ambushed by criminals.
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Umar Zameer, his 8-month-old pregnant wife and their 2-year-old son in the elevator leading to the garage from Toronto City Hall on the night of the murder.
He recalls that Officers Northrup and Forbes were dressed in civilian clothes and that the unmarked police vehicle that blocked his path in the garage had tinted windows.
The underground parking lot was also deserted and it was close to midnight. It was an empty and dirty parking lot, there was no one there, it was Canada Day, explains the policewoman.
Sgt Forbes assures in her testimony that she duly identified herself by showing her badge when she arrested Umar Zameer.
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The accused, Umar Zameer, surrounded by his lawyers, Nader Hasan and Alexandra Heine, leave the court after a day of hearing.
She emphasizes that& #x27;she was not otherwise aggressive in stopping the accused's car in the garage, but she admits that she did hit the hood, then the driver's window.
We did not rush towards his car, we walked with the intention of questioning the driver, she repeats.
She no longer remembers whether she hit the window with her fist or the palm of her hand.
I don't know if the occupants of the car were frightened, they had no reason to be alarmed, she said, recognizing however that she had indeed experienced a communication problem.
The sergeant also admits that she had no legal reason to apprehend Umar Zameer when she arrived. is directed towards his car. That was never our intention, she said.
The hearings will resume Monday with testimony from other plainclothes police officers who were present on the night of the tragedy.
Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116
