Driver ran down two New Zealand police officers while walking on foot in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing one and injuring another, the country's police chief said.
The attack shocked a country where the killing of police officers on duty is rare. Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming became the first female officer in New Zealand's history to be killed by a criminal act while on duty, police said on Thursday.
In Wednesday's attack, the vehicle plowed into the officers “at high speed” while they were conducting a routine patrol in a parking lot, before the driver turned and rammed a police car, said 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 man, aged 32, was arrested for the incident shortly after it happened, around 2am local time. He was charged with eight criminal counts, including murder, attempted murder, assault using a vehicle as a weapon and driving while disqualified.
The other officer who was hit by the car was in serious condition but was expected to make a full recovery, Chambers said. A third officer in the ram police car suffered a concussion and two members of the public were injured, one of them after coming to help the injured officers.
Chambers condemned the “senseless action of one who seems determined to do harm,” though he did not suggest a motive.
“There was, at this point, no indication that was going to happen,” Chambers said.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters that the officers were “targeting what I consider to be a very stupid attack. “It was a “devastating day” for the police and the country, wrote Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on X.
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The attack happened in the center of Nelson – population 55,000 – near the street where the city's New Year's Eve 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 killed by a hit-and-run driver. Thirty-three other officers have died through criminal acts while on duty since 1890, according to police records.
Fleming had been an officer for 38 years and was a longtime netball coach at a local girls' high school.
“She's a mother, she's a wife and she's a well-known and well-respected member of the Nelson community,” Chambers said.
The accused man is expected to appear in court on Friday. A murder conviction in New Zealand carries an automatic life sentence, with the presiding judge setting a non-parole period of at least 10 years.
