Toronto Police Service tried to 'railroad an innocent man': Umar Zameer's lawyer speaks

Umar Zameer's attorney to talk after OPP cover clears 3 officers of misconduct

Lawyers for a adult male acquitted in a high-profile Toronto murder trial where a police officer was killed are speaking at a news conference Thursday to address a recent Ontario Provincial Police report that re-examines evidence from the trial.

Umar Zameer's lawyer Nader Hasan said he wants to set the record straight in a "chilling moment in the Canadian justice system."

"We expected the worst from a police investigation into other police. These types of reviews invariably range from the inadequate to outright whitewashing," he said.

"We anticipated nothing good, but what we got was far worse."

He said evidence was “heavily scrutinized” throughout the trial process and that prosecutors chose not to appeal the acquittal.

There is no new evidence has been revealed in the OPP's report, said Hasan, adding the report's theory is a "shameful embarrassment."

"The so-called new accident reconstruction theory put forward by the OPP ... Is the exact same theory the Crown put forward at trial and the jury rejected," he said.

Umar Zameer's lawyer Nader Hasan says testimony probe should have used civil review, not OPP

Hasan said the Toronto police tried to "railroad an innocent man."

"The chief of police has had the audacity to call into question the verdict at Mr. Zameer's trial,” said Hasan. 

The long-awaited OPP report released on Tuesday found Toronto Police Service officers involved in the investigation into the 2021 death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup did not lie. It also raised “significant concerns” with the collision theories posed by two separate expert witnesses in Umar Zameer’s trial, including a Toronto police officer.

The report, which was requested by Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw, comes years after Northrup was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by Zameer in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall on July 1, 2021.

Zameer, who was charged with first-degree murder, pleaded not guilty and testified he didn't know Northrup and his partner — who were in plainclothes during the incident — were police officers. He was acquitted in 2024.

At an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Ford called on the judge in Zameer’s trial to apologize to the witness officers who she accused of possible collusion. 

Ford’s remarks echo those made by Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell at a Tuesday news conference.

"The only apology that is owed is from the chief of police and the premier for trying to undermine the administration of justice and the sanctity of criminal trials," said Hasan.

The Toronto police board should call for an independent inquiry to look into the report, trial and evidence in order to "respond to the lack of trust in the process that we’ve seen play out," said Shakir Rahim, lawyer and director of the criminal justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

He said the OPP’s report itself claims the judge’s decision was made based on the evidence presented in the trial, and that the judge did not have access to any new evidence used by more recent investigators. 

“In this case, where there has been no allegation of impropriety made against the judge … it makes that kind of intervention by the premier wholly inappropriate,” he said.

“It is very unclear why there should be any obligation on a judge to apologize.”

Rahim said the premier also criticized the decision to grant bail to Zamir in 2021 and, after the trial, Demkiw “suggested that a different outcome was hoped for.”

OPP report clears 3 officers of lying accusations: police chief

Police "intentionally" chose a "flawed and biased process," instead of going down a public and independent path to review the trials findings, said Criminal Lawyers' Association president Adam Weisberg in an emailed statement Thursday.

The OPP report, he said, "was a repackaging of the evidence already heard by an impartial jury."

"Police investigators appointed themselves judge and jury and retried the case by accepting novel theories never tested at trial," said Weisberg, adding judges "cannot and should not" apologize for a decision.

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