Umar Zameer, accused in the killing of Toronto Police Const. Jeffrey Northrup, left to right, defence lawyers Alexandra Heine, Nader Hasan, Crown attorney Karen Simone are shown in this courtroom sketch as Justice Anne Molloy and jury members look on in Toronto on March 21.Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press
A crash reconstructionist is telling jurors at a murder trial there is no evidence a Toronto police officer was run over while standing up.
Barry Raftery has been called to testify by the defence in the trial of Umar Zameer, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup.
Northrup died on July 2, 2021 after he was run over by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall.
Raftery says that based on the physical evidence, the “only reasonable conclusion” is that Northrup was already on the ground when he was run over.
Crown prosecutors previously called a police crash reconstructionist, who told the court he concluded Northrup had been knocked to the ground by the car reversing before he was run over by it going forward.
Prosecutors allege Zameer caused Northrup’s death by making a series of manoeuvres with his car while officers were nearby, but the defence says it was an accident and neither Zameer nor his wife knew the pair – who were in plainclothes – were officers.