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At the trial of Umar Zameer, a police officer concedes that he had no grounds to arrest any brown-skinned man after receiving a description of the assailant police were seeking in connection with a stabbing in downtown Toronto.
The 34-year-old is accused of the premeditated murder of Officer Jeffrey Northrup in the underground parking lot of the # x27;city hall in 2021.
Officer Scharnil Pais is the second officer to present to the jury another perspective of what happened in the night of July 1-2, 2021, when Umar Zameer killed Officer Northrup while driving his car.
He claims he received a call from his dispatcher at 11:47 p.m. to go to Nathan Phillips Place about a stabbing.
LoadingAn SOS launched by the container ship made it possible to avoid the worst
An SOS launched by the container ship made it possible to avoid the worst
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An SOS launched by the container ship made it possible to avoid the worst
ELSEWHERE ON INFO: An SOS launched by the container ship made it possible to avoid the worst
He explains having received the report of the ' radio transmitter and that he was a brown-skinned man, approximately 1.80 m tall, with thick hair and a long beard.
It turns out that the suspect resembled Umar Zameer, whose family had encountered a man with an abdomen wound while returning to the City Hall parking lot that night.
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Paramedics and police officers come to the aid of an individual who suffered a knife wound to the abdomen on the night of July 1, 2021. Sgt Forbes is in shorts on the left.
Officer Pais states that he walked down to the garage and encountered others agents of the major crimes squad also dressed in civilian clothes and that they shared the search area because of the size of the parking lot.
He adds that he and Agent Correa went back to Nathan Phillips Square to pick up their vehicle unmarked to participate in research, but by car.
He states that they spoke briefly with Forbes and Northrup. We had to gather information from motorists in the garage, he said.
L&# x27;Agent Pais specifies that his colleagues headed towards a BMW on the other side of the parking lane and that Correa went around in the opposite lane to join them.
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Officer Jeffrey Northrup was crushed to death in the parking lot beneath Toronto City Hall on the night of July 1-2, 2021.
When arriving in front of the BMW, Agent Pais states that he saw that it was occupied by a man with brown skin and a woman in a hijab.
Forbes and Northrup were on the driver's side, waving their badges and shouting 'Police, stop,' he said.
He emphasizes that his two colleagues were not armed and that the passenger was waving her right arm in front of the windshield [as if to tell them to move away, Editor's note].
Agent Pais claims that everything happened very quickly, that the BMW moved towards the unmarked car which was blocking its path and that it then backed up to change lanes.
He adds that Officer Northrup was then brushed by the car and that the car Agent Forbes exclaimed What the f***.
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The Zameers' BMW was the subject of a thorough forensic inspection by investigators.
He points out that his colleague fell forward and that the driver of the BMW drove off faster, this time killing the police officer.
He rolled over her body without stopping while fleeing towards the exit of the garage, he said.
He assures that he was only 2 or 3 m from the stage . Officer Northrup put his hands in front of him before being caught, bouncing off the hood and falling onto the roadway, he recalled.
He maintained that the BMW disappeared around a bend amid screeching tires.
We were in shock and Agent Forbes told us to pursue him while she treated our colleague, he continues.
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The unmarked police car of agents Correa and Pais on the night of July 2, 2021 near a garage exit of the city hall.
Agent Pais adds that it was easy to catch up the suspect at the exit of the garage, because the barrier was lowered and another car was there stopped in front of the pay station.
He specifies that agent Correa collided with the BMW and that the' ;impact was so violent that their vehicle's air bags deployed.
He claims that he then got out and walked towards the passenger's door while his colleague did the same on the driver's side.
He explains that he pulled the woman by the wrist because she didn't didn't want to get out of the BMW. She was screaming, shaking and hyperventilating, he said.
He points out that the wife had asked him if the person her husband had hit was okay.
I didn't know if Jeffrey was dead, but I assumed the worst, he continued.
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The same police vehicle of agents Correa and Pais from another angle.
Agent Pais claims the woman then asked him to take his son in the back seat of the car.
He says he offered water to the woman and her son, placing them in the room# x27;back of her unmarked car before calling an ambulance, because she was pregnant.
He specifies that his teammate had in the meantime taken Zameer down and that he asked him to kneel, because he did not have his handcuffs on him.
I told him to go put on his police vest like I had it done before joining him, he said.
Officer Pais adds that he then told the accused that he was under arrest for homicide and dangerous driving.
Agent Pais acknowledges that the parking lot was deserted, that it was dark, but that the garage was well lit. He confirms that the windows of his vehicle were indeed tinted.
He claims that he had a good description of the knife assailant, but pressed for questions by lawyer Nader Hasan, he admits that he only remembered from the description that he knew was a brown-skinned man.
That's correct, I had no reason to arrest any brown-skinned man that night, he said.
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Umar Zameer, his 8-month-pregnant wife and their 2-year-old son in the elevator to the Toronto City Hall garage on the night of the murder.
Mr. Nader asked Officer Pais if he didn't understand that the Zameer family was confused to see strangers there ;#x27;approach their car, banging their fist on the hood before seeing a vehicle blocking their path.
Agent Pais assures that Officer Northrup only tapped his hand on the driver's window to get his attention.
I can't know if they were scared, it's possible, but we clearly identified ourselves when our vehicle collided with their BMW, he concludes.
His cross-examination will continue tomorrow.
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Jean-Philippe Nadeau (Consult the profile)Jean-Philippe NadeauFollow
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
