An Ontario Provincial Police investigation has found no evidence of wrongdoing by multiple Toronto police officers accused of lying and collusion by a judge in a high-profile murder trial.
The long-awaited OPP report, which was released Tuesday, states that the officers involved in the investigation into the 2021 death of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup in Toronto did not lie. Instead, it suggests the evidence provided by two separate expert witnesses including a Toronto police officer — which was then accepted by a jury — was wrong.
“The OPP investigation found no evidence to support the belief that [the officers] lied or colluded to lie,” the report reads.Â
“The OPP has concluded this investigation with no reasonable grounds to believe that a criminal offence has been committed by the officers involved.”
You can read the OPP’s findings in full at the bottom of this story.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said that for nearly two years, the officers involved in the case lived under accusations that they had lied under oath and obstructed justice — and so in his eyes, they’ve been vindicated.
“The personal toll this process has taken on these officers has been enormous,” Demkiw said.
The release of the report, which was requested by Demkiw, comes years after Northrup was struck and killed by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall on July 1, 2021.
Umar Zameer, who was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the case, pleaded not guilty and testified he didn’t know Northrup and his partner — who were in plainclothes at the time of the incident — were Toronto police officers.Â
The officers were investigating a stabbing that happened earlier that night. But Zameer was not connected to that incident in any way, according to court documents, nor did he match a suspect description from the stabbing.
Zameer testified he thought it was an ambush
Zameer was acquitted in 2024. The trial focused on whether he meant to run over Northrup, or even realized it had happened, and whether he knew the constable and his partner were police officers.Â
Zameer testified he thought his family was being ambushed by criminals when two strangers ran over and started banging on his car, where he was sitting at the time with his pregnant wife and two-year-old son.
Umar Zameer, right, thanks defence lawyer Nader Hasan while speaking to reporters outside the courthouse following his not guilty verdict in Toronto in 2024. An Ontario Provincial Police report issued Tuesday says that officers who testified as part of the case did not collude or lie in their testimony. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)
Zameer’s lawyer, Nader Hasan, called the OPP report a “version of the truth that is completely disjointed from reality” in an interview with CBC News Tuesday afternoon.
Hasan also noted that when the verdict in the case first landed, Demkiw said that he shared “the feelings of our members who were hoping for a different outcome” — comments the chief later walked back.
“So he’s gone out and found a different forum, the most favourable audience possible — another police agency — and asked for a review but without the benefit of an impartial judge, without the benefit of an impartial jury and without the benefit of a defence, to test the evidence they are purporting to rely on,” Hasan said.
‘They not only lied, but they colluded to lie’: judge
In her final instructions to the jury at the trial, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy told jurors to consider the possibility that three officers who served as the prosecution’s key witnesses had colluded.
In a written decision linked to the case, Molloy went even further. She said it was possible that two of the officers involved — constables Scharnil Pais and Antonio Correa — hadn’t seen what happened that night, but decided to back up an account of the incident from Northrup’s partner, Const. Lisa Forbes.
WATCH | Lawyer looks back at emotional trial:
Umar Zameer’s lawyer: ‘We knew the truth’
On Sunday, jurors found Umar Zameer not guilty of all criminal charges, including first-degree murder, in the death of Toronto police officer Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup nearly three years ago. Metro Morning host David Common spoke with Zameer’s lawyer Nader Hasan about the verdict, and how officials handled the case.
All three had the same incorrect memory that Northrup was standing in a laneway with his arms outstretched when he was struck, Molloy said during jury instructions.
She went on to write in the decision that it was possible all three officers had made up this story because they didn’t see what happened and they thought their account was “logical,” or that the officers had “invented” the story to put themselves in a better light.
“Perhaps we will never know what they actually saw. The one thing I know for sure, however, is that Officers Pais and Correa did not see Officer Northrup standing upright while being run down by Mr. Zameer,” Molloy wrote.Â
“Further, the fact that their versions dovetail so closely with each other and with Officer Forbes leads me to the inexorable conclusion that they not only lied, but they colluded to lie.”
Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup worked in court services until he became a police officer in 1998. He was assigned to Toronto’s 52 Division in 2008. (Toronto Police Service)OPP says judge conclusions limited
The OPP report notes that Molloy’s conclusions were limited to the evidence presented at trial — but goes on to say that provincial police investigators found evidence that wasn’t presented in court.
“While the defense theory that Detective Constable Northrup was struck while beside a reversing BMW was accepted at trial, the OPP collision reconstruction investigation found no evidentiary basis for this claim,” the report reads.Â
“Physical evidence, including security video, forensic mapping, tire marks and autopsy findings supported that Detective Constable Northrup was standing in front of the BMW when it accelerated forward and struck him down.”
Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell, left, and Demkiw speak during Tuesday’s news conference. (Alex Lupul/CBC)
Demkiw said at the news conference that the OPP’s interpretation of the evidence being different than what was presented at trial by Toronto police’s own expert pointed to “deficiencies” in the force’s collision reconstruction unit. Reform was needed, he said, adding that changes have been made in the time since the incident.
“That’s something that we’re taking away from this report,” he said.
Demkiw did not respond to questions about any impact the report might have on the status of the case and referred questions to the Ministry of the Attorney General. CBC News will update this story with any response.
WATCH | Zameer speaks after verdict:
‘I never meant any of this to happen,’ Umar Zameer says after not-guilty verdict in Toronto police officer’s death
Umar Zameer expressed relief and thanked his lawyers outside a Toronto courthouse after jurors found him not guilty of all criminal charges, including first-degree murder, in the 2021 death of Toronto police officer Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup. ‘I think today I see that Canada didn’t let injustice to happen, so I thank Canada,’ he said.
Hasan said he isn’t worried about the Crown attempting to reopen the case based on the contents of the OPP’s report, and said Demkiw should have instead asked the province for a public inquiry.
“I believe that the Crown will behave responsibly and see this report for what it is, which is a public relations gambit by the Toronto Police Service,” he said.
“This report, and what the chief of police said today is an insult to Canadians [and] to Torontonians. It’s … ‘don’t believe what you heard, don’t believe what you saw, but believe us.'”
Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell said at Tuesday’s news conference that he wants to see a public apology from Molloy.
“It’s clear as day in that report, and she owes them an apology,” he said about the responding officers.
Campbell would not rule out any formal action against the judge, saying he would sit down with the officers at a later date to decide on “next steps.”