A Superior Court judge should publicly apologize to three Toronto police officers after she accused them of potentially lying under oath and colluding during the murder trial of Umar Zameer, Toronto Police Association (TPA) President Clayton Campbell said on Tuesday.
Campbell’s strong words for Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy came shortly after an OPP report that exonerated Det-Const. Scharnil Pais, Det.-Const. Antonio Correa and Sgt. Lisa Forbes (then a detective constable), was made public.
“While they’ve been vindicated of any wrongdoing, this is not a reason to celebrate,” Campbell said.
“At the very least, they deserve an apology.”
“Judges should also take accountability,” he added. “They are not beyond reproach. They cannot be shielded from public criticism. Today, I take the first step in demanding accountability by publicly asking Justice Malloy to make things right. Because of Justice Malloy’s comments our members were accused of tarnishing the memory of a deceased colleague. They were publicly shamed, the reputation of an entire profession thrown into question.”
The OPP’s independent 55-page review, released by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) on Tuesday, found no evidence of perjury or collusion by the officers.
The probe was initiated by Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw after Justice Molloy suggested that the three witness officers who took the stand may have possibly colluded in their testimonies, something they all denied.
Zameer was ultimately found not guilty on all charges in the death Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, who was hit by a vehicle driven by Zameer in an underground parking garage at Toronto City Hall on July 1, 2021.
Campbell said it was Molloy’s accusations that put the officers through “heartache and trauma” while they lived under the shadow of the investigation.
“She put forward the fact that these officers lied and colluded to lie,” he said. “I think her comments are what triggered the Chief to have to do this investigation — two years of stress and anguish for these officers — I think the least she can do is apologize.”
When asked if the TPA would seek to take formal action against Justice Molloy, Campbell said it wasn’t out of the question at a later date.
“These are three human beings who have been through hell and back to be quite honest, they are just taking a breath for right now, we’re going to sit back with them at the right time to decide what steps we’ll take.”
Campbell also shot back at a reporter who questioned the OPP’s findings and asked if the public could have confidence in a matter of “police investigating police.”
“You mention police investigating police, I’ll remind everybody, four or five weeks ago we dealt with Project South where police officers arrested and charged police officers for very serious offences. So we can’t have it both ways.”
Chief Demkiw also defended the integrity of the investigation, saying the OPP “is incredibly qualified and capable” to do the review and are “experts” in the field.
The OPP are “the competent authority for us to turn to in these moments and we did,” he said.
Demkiw also discussed the burden on the officers.
“Their reputations were questioned publicly and repeatedly, their credibility was challenged and in the court of public opinion some had convicted them. That is an extraordinary burden for anyone to carry.”
“The independent investigation has now determined that they did not lie.”
Demkiw did point out that the OPP’s report identified deficiencies in the original TPS collision reconstruction
“Those findings re-enforce the need to continue strengthening investigative review, accountability and oversight within the service.
“I am committed to this ongoing work.”
