Chief apologizes for remarks on verdict
Demkiw tells police board he ‘should have been more clear’ he accepted jury’s finding
Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw formally apologized Tuesday for saying he’d been “hoping for a different outcome” in the Umar Zameer trial, saying he “should have been more clear” that he accepted the verdict in the moments after the jury’s acquittal.
“I fully understand the concerns that have been expressed, and I’ve been reflecting on my comments as chief of police,” Demkiw told a meeting of the Toronto police board Tuesday, the first since the high-profile trial in the 2021 death of plainclothes officer Const. Jeffrey Northrup concluded.
“I apologize for my choice of words in those early moments outside the court,” he said, referencing comments he made in a Toronto police news release.
The chief’s apology, which did not mention Zameer, came after brief remarks by chair Ann Morgan, who said the civilian board supports the two reviews launched in the wake of the trial and will “thoroughly review the results.” Last week, Toronto police tapped the Ontario Provincial Police to conduct an independent probe into their officers’ testimony in response to concerns raised by the trial judge, and the force launched an internal review of all aspects of plainclothes policing.
But Morgan stopped short of commenting on Demkiw’s controversial remark or directly acknowledging public concerns over police conduct in the case, saying only that there are “many highly charged, divergent and understandably emotional views on this matter.”
“I am asking our community to let cooler heads prevail,” Morgan said.
Critics said the comments failed to acknowledge the public’s concerns or the board’s powers to take its own actions.
Shakir Rahim, director of the criminal justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said those include its ability to draft a policy to prevent a police chief, or any officer, from publicly maligning criminal verdicts in the future.
Morgan’s “cooler heads” comment lacked recognition that “there’s a reason” why the public was angry, he said.
“The issue here is not that there are strong reactions. The issue here is, what has transpired and how do we fix it?”
“The people who are complaining don’t have uncool heads,” said John Sewell, with the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition. “The point is, this is a serious problem for the police.”
Morgan, a former longtime Crown attorney appointed as chair of the police board last year, has declined two interview requests from the Star since Zameer’s acquittal.
Zameer, a 34-year-old accountant and father, was acquitted last week in the July 2021 death of Northrup, who was fatally struck by Zameer in an underground parking garage. The not-guilty finding indicated the jury believed Zameer’s account that the death was a tragic accident: that Zameer believed he, his pregnant wife and young child were being ambushed by criminals and didn’t know Northrup — who was in plain clothes — was a police officer.
The verdict followed a contentious trial that brought on accusations that witness officers gave “false” evidence in a case some legal observers say should never have been brought to trial.
The officers have denied colluding in their testimony.
As questions mounted over police conduct in the case, Demkiw released a statement moments after the verdict saying that he and other officers had been “hoping for a different outcome” — comments that sparked the outrage that Demkiw quickly sought to contain; he soon issued another statement saying he respected the jury’s verdict and said his remarks were made within the context of grieving the loss of Northrup and looking for closure.
In his comments Tuesday, Demkiw said that in the week since the verdict, there have been “some very difficult public conversations,” reiterating that he does “respect and accept the decision of the jury.”
“As I have said, closure can never come at the expense of justice,” Demkiw said.
Demkiw also revealed the force had notified Ontario’s Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (formerly, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director), as required by the province’s new police legislation, which came into effect on April 1. No other details were provided.
The chief’s comments came during an at-times volatile police board meeting that was briefly delayed when a member of the public, speaking on an unrelated matter, did not stop speaking and then refused to leave the meeting, which is held in the auditorium at police headquarters.
The Toronto police board then ordered the room to be cleared while the man was arrested. In an unusual move, members of the media were directed to leave; when the Star refused to go, an officer cited the Trespass Act as the authority to send media out of the room as the arrest was taking place.
A board spokesperson said in a statement: “The meeting resumed shortly thereafter, at which point everyone was permitted to return.”