Exceptional fact: the Crown and the defense presented their opening arguments to the jury one after the other.
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Agent Jeffrey Northrup died in the line of duty in July 2021. He was 55 years old.
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In Toronto, the Crown at the trial of an individual accused of the premeditated murder of a police officer maintains that the accused deliberately grabbed him after refusing to comply with a restraining order. #x27;stop. Jeffrey Northrup was killed on the night of July 1 to 2, 2021. Umar Zameer's defense assures that he was frightened because he believed that someone wanted to attack him to him because of his religion.
In its indictment, the Crown affirmed that this case is solely the choice of the accused, who decided to flee a crime scene rather than stop as police officers asked him to do.
This choice led to the death of an on-duty police officer, explained the prosecutor, Michael Cantlon, suggesting that no one disputes the fact that the accused was driving the car in question that night. /p>
Trial of Umar Zameer, accused of killing a police officer, begins
The prosecutor explained that a police operation was underway in the city center that night after a knife attack.
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A bloodied individual shot in the abdomen had been seen near from the entrance to the underground garage of city hall.
Mr. Cantlon specified that agent Jeffrey Northrup and his teammate, Lisa Forbes, were dressed in civilian clothes, that they were searching on foot and that they were assisted by two other police officers in a police car. unmarked police and tinted windows.
From left to right: Umar Zameer, his lawyer Nader Hasan, prosecutor Michael Cantlon (standing), Judge Ann Molloy, prosecutor Karen Simone and the victim's wife, Margaret Northrup.
He added that Officer Northrup and his teammate saw Umar Zameer with his eight-month pregnant wife and their 2-year-old son. They were putting a stroller in the trunk of their car, he said.
The prosecutor assured that the two agents, although dressed in plain clothes, duly identified themselves as such and that they wore their police badges clearly in view around the neck.
Me Cantlon, however, affirmed that the accused rushed at them but that the police vehicle blocked his path.
By reversing the vehicle before moving forward, Officer Northrup was caught during the maneuver, he said, telling the jury that videos will prove what he is saying, although the images are not excellent.
Crown prosecutor Michael Cantlon, standing, delivering his closing argument to the jury.
The question is not to know who killed Officer Northrup but to understand why the accused acted in this way when the police arrived to question him, -he concluded by arguing that the accused did not even stop after crushing the victim.
In his plea, the defense explained that their client was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that Officer Northrup's death was a tragic accident and not a murder, as the Crown suggests.
Lawyer Nader Hasan noted that his client is an immigrant from Malaysia, who arrived in Canada in 2019.
He added that Umar Zameer is an accountant, his family lives in Woodbridge, north of Toronto, and he had decided to go downtown to maybe see some fireworks at the ;on the occasion of Canada Day.
Umar Zameer (to the left of his lawyer , Nader Hasan) was released on $335,000 bail.
They arrived around 10:30 p.m. and Umar parked his vehicle in the garage under Nathan Phillips Square, a decision that must have been fateful, he said.
Hasan noted that the Zameer family walked between Nathan Phillips Square and Dundas Square, stopping to take photos before returning to City Hall to meet friends there.
The lawyer confirmed that the family did come across a shirtless man on the way home who seemed injured.
It's at that moment that their destiny would cross that of police officers who were investigating a knife attack, he continued.
Justice Anne Molloy of the Ontario Superior Court listens attentively to the defense's argument on the first day of trial of Umar Zameer, March 20, 2024 in Toronto.
Me Hasan clarified that the family had finally decided to return home and return to the parking lot.
The lawyer took care to point out that the first two police officers who approached him on foot in the underground parking lot were not wearing uniforms and they hit his client's vehicle.
The Crown says both officers identified themselves as police officers, but it will be up to you to decide whether or not, he told the 14 jurors.
Judge Molloy giving her instructions to the jury the day before the trial, March 19, 2024.
Mr. Hasan said his client was afraid and that he started his car to escape before the unmarked police car blocked his access to the exit. He also didn't know it was a police vehicle, he said.
The lawyer explained that his client then reversed, clipping Officer Northrup, who fell in front of his car. He believed they were criminals trying to attack them, he said.
Me Hasan assured that his client believed his family's lives were in danger after the attack which left four dead within a Muslim family a month earlier in London.
His wife, who also wore a headscarf, was pregnant and their child was crying in the back seat, he added.
L' The lawyer stressed that his client then moved his vehicle forward while driving, without knowing it, over the body of the victim. It was a horrible and tragic accident, he continued.
Toronto Police Detective Adam Taylor describes on screen the surveillance camera videos police seized after Officer Northrup's death. It shows the Zameer family on the night of July 1, 2021.
Hasan told the jury that his client was going to testify in this trial, although x27;he is not obliged to do so, since the burden of proof lies with the Crown.
He is the only one who can explain to you what went through his mind that night, he concluded, warning the jurors that some Crown witnesses were going to lie in their statements.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Think about it: why would a father kill a police officer while he was with his wife and their son? he asked.
The Crown's first witness was Constable Adam Taylor, who described to the court videos from different surveillance cameras, which were projected on large screens.
In one of them, Umar Zameer's black car could be seen entering the underground garage of the ;city Hall.
Another video showed the defendant and his eight-month-pregnant wife walking while pushing their two-year-old son's stroller .
Prosecutor Karen Simone questions the first witness Crown, Detective Adam Taylor, Toronto Police.
A close-up of the family in the elevator going down to the City Hall garage showed his wife wearing a white hijab. /p>
A video from city hall also showed that Officer Northrup was dressed in Bermuda shorts and x27;a short-sleeved shirt and that he was wearing a cap.
Her teammate, Agent Forbes, wore very short denim shorts and a dark hoodie.
In her cross-examination, Mr. Hasan told Detective Taylor that the badges of Officers Northrup and Forbes were not visible when they left Nathan Phillips Place and went down into the parking lot.
The trial will continue tomorrow with testimony from other police officers.
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