- A driver plowed into two New Zealand police officers on patrol in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing one and seriously injuring the other, the country’s police chief said.
- The driver crashed into officers “at high speed” before turning and hitting a police car.
- A 32-year-old man was arrested for the incident shortly after it occurred.
A driver struck two New Zealand police officers while they were on foot patrol in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing one and seriously injuring the other, the country’s police chief said.
The attack shook a country where the killing of on-duty police officers is rare. Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was the first female officer in New Zealand history to be killed by police while on duty, police said on Thursday.
In Wednesday’s attack, the vehicle struck officers “at high speed” while they were on routine patrol in a parking lot, before the driver spun around and rammed a police car, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters. in the city of Nelson, on the South Island. Fleming died at a local hospital hours later.
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A 32-year-old man was arrested for the incident shortly after it occurred, around 2 a.m. local time. He was charged with eight criminal counts, including murder, attempted murder, assault with a vehicle as a weapon and driving while disqualified.
The other officer hit by the car was in serious condition but was expected to make a full recovery, Chambers said. A third officer who was in the rammed police car received a concussion and two members of the public were injured, one of them after coming to the aid of the injured officers.
Chambers condemned the “senseless act of an individual who appears to have been determined to cause harm,” although he did not suggest a motive.
Police forensic officers photograph the scene in Buxton Sq. where a police officer died after a driver hit her and her colleague while on foot patrol in the early hours of New Year’s Day, in Nelson, New Zealand , on January 1, 2025. (Braden Fastier/Stuff via AP)
“There was, at this stage, no indication that that was what was about to happen,” Chambers said.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters that officers were “the target of 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 in X.
The attack occurred in an area of central Nelson (population 55,000) near the street where the city’s New Year’s Eve celebrations had concluded two hours earlier.
Before Wednesday, the last murder of an on-duty police officer in New Zealand was in 2020, when a fleeing driver shot an officer. Another 33 officers have died from criminal acts while on duty since 1890, according to police records.
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Fleming had been 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 well-respected member of the Nelson community,” Chambers said.
The accused man is due in court on Friday. A murder conviction in New Zealand carries an automatic sentence of life in prison, with the presiding judge setting the non-parole period at least 10 years.
