Wife of man accused of running over Toronto cop tells jury she feared for her life

Speaking at times through sobs, Aaida Shaikh recalled the events that led up to the arrest of her husband, Umar Zameer, on July 2, 2021.Zameer has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who was struck by a car while investigating a stabbing in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall. Court has heard that Northrup and other officers in the garage that night were in plain clothes, meaning not in uniform.

She said she briefly considered the possibility that the pair may be police, but dismissed that idea because they weren't dressed -- or behaving -- like police officers. The pair were "aggressive," dressed in casual clothes and didn't identify themselves as police, she said, and they just repeatedly shouted at them to stop and get out.

The defence, meanwhile, argues Northrup's death was an accident, and Zameer and his wife, who was eight months pregnant at the time, were scared because they did not know the people approaching them were police. Zameer, who had previously been largely silent, told her to call police, she said, adding she had to ask him whether to dial 911 or 999 -- the emergency number in Malaysia, where the couple lived until coming to Canada in 2019. Shaikh reached toward the back seat to get a cellphone from her son, who had previously used it to watch cartoons on YouTube, she said.

Even when the man who was with her tossed handcuffs to his partner, Shaikh said she didn't believe they were police, especially after seeing that same man punch her husband.It was only when the man went into his van and put on a police vest that she understood, Shaikh told the court. She told the officers she and her husband hadn't known they were police and that the others hadn't been wearing a vest or anything like that.

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