Umar Zameer speaks about relief, loss after acquittal

When Umzar Zameer sees his three children smiling, he immediately thinks of the children left behind by the loss of a Toronto police officer, in whose death he has now been acquitted.

Zameer, 34, told CBC's The National on Monday that while he is relieved at being found not guilty after being charged in the death of Det.-Const. Jeffery Northrup three years ago, he can't stop thinking about the officer's family. Northrup, a 31-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service, was also a father of three. 

Zameer, an accountant, was found not guilty on Sunday in the death of Northrup, who was hit by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall on July 2, 2021. Zameer had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

A jury delivered its verdict on Sunday — a verdict that left Zameer and his family in tears.

"I felt so relieved. This is the first time I went home, hugged my kids, without any burden on my shoulders," Zameer said.

"It was a moment which I was blessed [with] after three years. But at the same time, I was thinking about the family of Officer Northrup, his kids, his wife. It's a tragedy," he said.

"We are trying to move on. I don't think we can. I can't stop thinking about them whenever we see our kids smiling, happy."

The verdict means the Crown did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zameer intended to kill Northrup, as is required for both a first-degree and lesser second-degree murder conviction.

After the verdict was read, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy addressed Zameer briefly before exiting the courtroom, telling him he was free to go and offering "my deepest apologies for what you've been through."

In her final instructions to jurors on Thursday, Molloy said there were four possible verdicts based on the evidence: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter or not guilty of any offence. Zameer was declared not guilty of any charges on the fourth day of jury deliberations.

On Sunday, Zameer said outside the courthouse: "I never meant any of this to happen. I am sorry for what has happened."

In the interview, Zameer said that when the judge apologized to him, it helped him begin to move on from the events of the last three years.

"I have seen both aspects of evil and good here in the past three years. The length of evil was long, but I think the strength of good was more. And when I heard those words from Honorable Justice Molloy, it motivated me to forget about those three years of evilness, and just think about the goodness of the strength of this day," he said. 

Zameer said he lost hope a couple of times and his faith in Canada was shaken, but his lawyers, including Nader Hasan, renewed his faith in the criminal justice system.