A Toronto police officer teared up on the stand this morning as she described the events that led to her partner’s death in an underground parking lot nearly three years ago.
Sgt. Lisa Forbes, who was a detective constable at the time, is testifying at the murder trial of Umar Zameer.
Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Const. Jeffrey Northrup.
Northrup, 55, died on July 2, 2021, after he was run over by a car in an underground parking garage below Toronto City Hall.
Court has previously heard Northrup and Forbes were in plain clothes when they arrived at the garage to investigate a stabbing. Zameer was not involved in the stabbing.
Forbes says she and Northrup initially approached Zameer’s SUV because he seemed to match the description given by the stabbing victim.
She says she identified herself as a police officer and showed her badge multiple times, including by holding it up to the driver side window, but Zameer did not seem to register that information.
Forbes says the car did a series of moves to get away and eventually accelerated, hitting Northrup and sending him “flying backwards” before running him over.
When she saw Northrup moments later, he looked like he’d “fallen off a building,” his body so twisted that it was difficult to get him on his back for CPR, she says.
In their opening remarks to the jury on Wednesday, prosecutors and defence lawyers painted drastically different pictures of the events that led to Northrup’s death.
The defence argued the officer’s death was a “tragic accident” caused by a misunderstanding and fear, while the Crown pinned it on a series of choices made by Zameer over a few short moments.
Jurors watched security footage from the area around city hall as well as the garage on Wednesday, but were told the video from the parking area is limited.