The driver ran over two New Zealand police officers while on foot patrol in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing one and seriously injuring another, the state police chief said.
The attack shook a country where killings of police officers in the line of duty is rare. Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming is the first female officer in New Zealand’s history to be killed in the line of duty, police said on Thursday.
In Wednesday’s attack, a vehicle hit officers “at high speed” while they were carrying out a routine car park patrol, before the driver swerved and crashed into the police car, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters in the South Island city of Nelson. Fleming died at a local hospital a few hours later.
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A 32-year-old man was arrested shortly after the incident, around 2 a.m. local time. He was charged with eight counts, including murder, attempted murder, assault with a vehicle as a weapon and driving without a license.
The other officer who was hit by the car was in serious condition but is expected to make a full recovery, Chambers said. The third policeman who was in the hit police car got a concussion, and two citizens were injured, one of whom came to help the injured policemen.
Chambers condemned the “senseless act of an individual who appeared determined to cause harm”, although he did not suggest a motive.
“There was no indication at this stage that what was going to happen was going to happen,” Chambers said.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters that officers were “targeted in what I consider to be a very cowardly attack”. It was a “devastating day” for the police and for the country, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X.
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The attack took place in the center of the city of Nelson – population 55,000 – near the street where the city’s New Year celebrations had ended two hours earlier.
Before Wednesday, the last on-duty killing of a police officer in New Zealand was in 2020, when an officer was shot by a hit-and-run driver. Thirty-three other officers have died as a result of criminal acts while on duty since 1890, according to police records.
Fleming was an officer for 38 years and was a long-time netball coach at a local girls’ high school.
“She’s a mother, she’s a wife and she’s a well-known and highly respected member of the Nelson community,” Chambers said.
The accused is scheduled to appear in court on Friday. A conviction for murder in New Zealand carries an automatic life sentence, with the presiding judge imposing a non-parole period of at least 10 years.
