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A Toronto judge is being asked to make a public apology after an Ontario Provincial Police investigation found “no evidence” to support her allegations that three Toronto police officers lied during court proceedings.
The request came during a Toronto Police Services media conference yesterday, which shared the OPP’s findings on allegations raised by Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy during the 2024 trial of Umar Zameer.
Zameer was charged with first-degree murder of Det.-Const. Jeffrey Northrup in 2021, but was ultimately found not guilty by a jury and acquitted on all charges.
Det.-Consts. Lisa Forbes, Antonio Correa and Scharnil Pais — the three officers accused of lying in their testimony — have been “vindicated” by the findings, Toronto Chief Myron Demkiw said at the conference.
“The OPP investigation found no evidence to support the belief that Det.-Const. Lisa Forbes, Pais, or Correa lied or colluded to lie,” he said, quoting directly from the report.
Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell spoke directly to Molloy, who made the allegations in a written court ruling released after trial.
“Today, I clearly say to Justice Molloy, you were wrong,” Campbell said. “I would strongly recommend that Scharnil, Tony, Lisa and especially Margaret [Northrup’s widow] receive a public apology from you.”
The OPP report, on the other hand, recognizes Molloy’s conclusions as “necessarily limited to the evidence presented during trial.”
“Judicial findings are based on the scope of testimony, exhibits and arguments introduced in court, and do not account for investigative materials or forensic analyses that were not before the court,” says the document, which is publicly available online.
“As such, these conclusions reflect the constraints of the trial record rather than the full breadth of available evidence.”
Northrup, who served as a Toronto officer for more than 31 years, died in the early hours of July 2, 2021, after being hit by a BMW in an underground parking garage at Nathan Phillips Square.
Along with Forbes, he had been responding to reports of a stabbing in the area. They entered the garage as a possible location for the crime. At the same time, Zameer was exiting the garage after Canada Day celebrations with his family.
The two officers, who were in plain clothes, approached Zameer’s vehicle on foot. They were joined by Pais and Correa, driving an unmarked black minivan. As Zameer tried to drive away, his vehicle struck Northrup.
During the trial, Zameer testified he believed his family was being attacked. He said he didn’t know his assailants were police and didn’t mean to kill Northrup.
Two expert witnesses were called, one of them a traffic collision reconstructionist. Both testified that the officer was on the ground when he was run over.
The Toronto Police reconstructionist concluded Zameer’s vehicle was reversing when Northrup was struck. The defence expert added his body wouldn’t have been visible to the driver.
But this evidence didn’t match the testimony of Forbes, Pais and Correa. All three said Northrup was hit head-on, while standing, with his palms outstretched and his arms raised.
Molloy noted this mismatch when giving her final instructions to the jury.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is possible for one officer to have a memory of Officer Northrup standing in front of the vehicle … even if that memory is not accurate,” she said.
“It is for you to decide if it is possible for three officers to have that same mistaken memory.”
In the ruling released after trial, Molloy explicitly stated the officers had lied, adding “the fact that their versions dovetail so closely with each other” led her to conclude “they not only lied, but they colluded to lie.”
But the OPP investigation found there was “no opportunity” for the officers to have colluded, nor did it find any evidence that any of the officers lied under oath.
Contrary to the original TPS reconstruction report, it also found Northrup was standing, not on the ground, when he was struck by Zameer’s car.
Speaking at the conference, Demkiw acknowledged the discrepancy. He said the OPP’s conclusion revealed “deficiencies” in TPS reconstruction practices that are now being addressed.
He repeatedly emphasized the OPP’s “thorough” and “independent” investigation as a reason to trust their results.
When asked directly about Molloy, Demkiw said he wouldn’t comment.
Campbell, on the other hand, was adamant about wanting an apology.
“Judges are human beings too … If I make a mistake, Chief makes a mistake, there's an expectation of an apology,” he said.
“Two years of stress, anguish for these three officers. I think the least she can do is apologize.”
