WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A driver ran down two New Zealand police officers down as they patrolled on foot in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing one and seriously injuring the other, the country’s police chief said.
The attack jolted a country where the killing of police officers on duty is rare. Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was the first female officer in New Zealand’s history killed by a criminal act while at work, police said Thursday.
Chambers condemned the “senseless act of an individual who appears to have been determined to cause harm,” although he did not suggest a motive.
“There was, at this stage, no indication that was what about to occur, occurred,” Chambers said.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters the officers were “targeted in what I consider a very cowardly attack.” It was a “devastating day” for police and for the country, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X.
The attack happened in a downtown area of Nelson — population 55,000 — close to the street where the city’s New Year’s Eve celebrations had concluded two hours before.
Before Wednesday, the last killing of a police officer on duty in New Zealand was in 2020, when an officer was shot by a fleeing driver. 33 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 long-serving 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 man charged is due to appear in court on Friday. A murder conviction in New Zealand draws an automatic sentence of life in prison, with the presiding judge setting a non-parole period of at least 10 years.This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
