The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is asking Toronto’s police services board whether it thinks comments made by the force’s chief were appropriate after a man was acquitted in the death of an officer.
The CCLA is also asking the board what steps it will take to ensure Chief Myron Demkiw and other police force members do not “publicly malign bail decisions or criminal verdicts in the future.”
A jury found Umar Zameer not guilty of first-degree murder on Sunday afternoon in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who was run over by a vehicle in Toronto City Hall’s underground parking garage nearly three years ago.
Zameer has testified he didn’t know Northrup and his partner – who were in plain clothes – were police officers and Zameer felt he, his pregnant wife, and their young son were in danger when two strangers ran up to his car.
Demkiw said on the day Zameer was acquitted that police “were hoping for a different outcome” in the case but on Tuesday the chief said he wanted to be “crystal clear” he accepts and supports the jury’s verdict.
Shakir Rahim, the director of CCLA’s Criminal Justice Program, says Demkiw’s initial statement conveyed that Zameer, despite his acquittal, should have been found guilty and the comments undermined public confidence in the administration of justice.
Rahim says the chief’s statement demands review and oversight, and he notes that Demkiw has not specifically apologized for what he initially said.