Accused in Toronto cop's death thought officers were criminals
CBC
A man accused of running over a Toronto police officer nearly three years ago recounted, through tears, the moment he thought his family was being ambushed by criminals during his trial on Thursday.
Umar Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who died after he was hit by a car in an underground parking garage on July 2, 2021.
Zameer was in downtown Toronto with his pregnant wife and young son to enjoy Canada Day festivities, court has heard.
As he was preparing to drive his BMW out of the parking garage around midnight, with his family inside, Zameer said he saw a man and a woman in plain clothes rushing towards the car.
The woman knocked on the car window and pointed downwards.
Zameer said he didn't understand what the downward gesture meant. He was unsure whether the woman was asking him to open the car or roll down the window.
"I thought they [were] trying to rob us," he said. The pair did not identify themselves as police, he added.
He said he quickly pressed a button to lock the car doors. The moment he did so, he said the pair started banging on the car.
"They were shouting so loud, 'stop, stop, get out the car,'" he recalled.
The banging was so loud that his two-year-old son, sitting in a car seat in the back, started to cry.
Zameer said he started driving forward to move away from the pair and get out of the parking spot. The moment he did so, he said a dark grey van "came out of nowhere," blocking him.
"I was so scared," he said. "I thought, it's not just two people. It's this whole gang."
He said his wife, sitting next to him in the passenger seat, began hyperventilating.
"I remember she couldn't even pronounce my name properly," Zameer said, adding that he worried the fear had started her labour.
