OPP report finds no evidence of wrongdoing for officers in Umar Zameer case

TORONTO — An investigation by Ontario Provincial Police has cleared three Toronto police officers of lying or colluding in the case of a man accused of fatally running over their colleague, challenging some of the evidence and conclusions of a trial that captured national attention two years ago.

The report released Tuesday said investigators found no evidence that Det. Lisa Forbes, Det. Const. Antonio Correa and Det. Const. Scharnil Pais lied, colluded or committed any criminal offence in the trial of Umar Zameer — a determination based in part on the OPP’s own reconstruction and analysis of the crash, which contradicted the findings of two experts heard at trial.

The three officers were key witnesses for the Crown prosecuting Zameer, who was charged with – and eventually cleared of – first-degree murder in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup.

“For nearly two years, Det. Lisa Forbes and detective constables Scharnil Pais and Antonio Correa lived under accusations that they had lied under oath and obstructed justice, allegations that go directly to the integrity of a police officer,” Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said in releasing the report.

“Their reputations were questioned publicly and repeatedly. Their credibility was challenged. And in a court of public opinion, some had convicted them,” he said.

“The independent investigation has now determined that they did not lie.”

Zameer’s lawyer, Nader Hasan, condemned the “secretive process” behind the investigation and its conclusions, saying it evokes a “public relations gambit” rather than an open and transparent review.

Instead of learning from the incident, the chief doubled down on a “false narrative” that has already been disproven by the court, Hasan said, noting Demkiw voiced his desire for a different outcome after Zameer was acquitted.

“So he had a do-over with the friendliest possible audience: other police,” Hasan said.

“It’s clear from reading this report and listening to him today … that they wanted to re-litigate this case, but without an impartial judge and without an impartial jury and without a defence to challenge the one-sided, disjointed, incomprehensible view that they were putting forward.”

Northrup died on July 2, 2021, after he was struck by a vehicle in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall. He and Forbes, his partner, were in plain clothes at the time.

The three officers testified Northrup was hit while standing in the middle of a laneway in the garage with his hands outstretched, evidence that was contradicted by security footage and the testimony of expert witnesses.

In her final instructions, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy told jurors to consider the possibility of collusion between the officers, noting all three had the same incorrect memory.

The judge later wrote that while Forbes may have been mistaken, Pais and Correa lied about what they had seen, and their stories matched so closely that the three must have colluded.

The officers maintained they had not discussed their evidence with anyone.

In the report, OPP said they determined they had to re-investigate the collision after reviewing and assessing the findings of the defence and police experts who testified at trial.

Investigators found several flaws with the Toronto police reconstructionist’s work, saying it failed to address marks on the car or consider the car’s collision mitigation technology.

“Determination on the details of the collision itself was investigatively necessary” to address Molloy’s allegations that Pais and Correa lied when they testified that Northrup was standing in front of the car with his hands up when he was struck, the report said.

In the end, the OPP reconstructionist concluded that Northrup was standing when he was hit by the car and that there is insufficient evidence to support the belief that Pais and Correa “intentionally lied in their statements, notes or testimony.”

The OPP’s collision reconstruction findings have not been tested in court.

The report also deemed that Pais and Correa had “limited opportunity” to consult each other and collude before giving their statements to homicide investigators.

The president of the police union called the report’s findings “vindication” for the officers and called for Molloy to issue a public apology for her comments.

Clayton 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.”

Neither the office of the attorney general nor the OPP immediately responded to a request for comment.

Court heard that Pais, Correa and several other officers wrote their notes in the same room more than a month after the incident, in what Molloy labelled a “note-taking party.” Pais and Correa also did a walkthrough of the garage together about two weeks before writing their notes, court heard.

The officers wrote their notes in the same room because they needed a quiet space, and none of the witnesses reported being aware of any conversations between the two regarding the content of their notes, the OPP report said.

The trial sparked widespread criticism of how the case was handled, with some legal observers questioning the decision to charge and prosecute Zameer for murder.

The police chief did not address the perjury allegations immediately after jurors delivered their verdict in April 2024, but the following evening, the force announced that it had asked OPP to conduct an independent review in light of the judge’s “adverse comments.”

Demkiw also ordered a full internal review of all aspects of plainclothes policing.

Later that month, the police chief apologized for how he had phrased his response to Zameer’s acquittal. Demkiw had initially said police respected the judicial process but were “hoping for a different outcome” to the trial.

Zameer’s lawyer previously said his client’s legal team was not contacted about the OPP investigation, nor were they shown the report before it was made public.

In an email Tuesday before the release of its report, OPP said its investigative team employed a trauma-informed approach and only conducted interviews with “those individuals who had specific relevance to the allegations being investigated, specifically, obstruction of justice and perjury.”

“The interviews were focused on obtaining information that had not already been provided under oath at trial, which Mr. Zameer has done,” the email said.

The fact that Zameer ran over Northrup and caused his death was not disputed at trial, with the case instead turning on whether Zameer meant to hit Northrup and whether he knew that the people who approached his car were police officers.

The two plainclothes officers came up to Zameer’s car after midnight while investigating a stabbing that he was not involved in. Zameer’s eight-months-pregnant wife and their toddler were also present at the time.

Forbes told the court that she and her partner walked over while Zameer was still outside the car. She testified that she identified herself as a police officer multiple times and started yelling and banging on the car after it moved forward.

Pais and Correa were in an unmarked police van with tinted windows and blocked the car’s path, court heard.

Zameer reversed, angled the car back and accelerated down the laneway, running over Northrup on the way, court heard. The unmarked van rammed into his car at the exit gate, and Zameer was arrested, trial heard.

While Zameer was handcuffed on the ground, Pais punched him in the face to get him to move, court heard.

Zameer gave a very different account of the incident, saying two strangers rushed over when he was already in the car with his wife and son. The pair started yelling and banging on the car, and Zameer said he feared he and his family were being attacked by criminals.

He drove forward, then grew more alarmed when the van blocked him, he said. He reversed quickly then moved forward down the laneway, looking in each direction, he said. Zameer said he never saw anything or anyone in the way.

Two crash reconstruction experts – including one called by the Crown – said they concluded Northrup fell after the car made glancing contact with him while reversing, and was on the ground when he was run over.

Security video from the garage, which was played during trial, showed an unidentified object believed to be Northrup’s body on the ground in front of the car as it is moving forward down the laneway. The police officer couldn’t be seen at any other point in the footage.

The OPP reconstructionist said the car’s side headlamp should have been visible in the security video, and that on closer examination, Northrup’s position was “revealed” in front of the car, blocking the headlamp.

In a brief statement, Forbes, Pais and Correa said they “appreciate the results” of the OPP’s investigation and they miss Northrup “every day.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 17, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press