Driver runs down two New Zealand cops, one dead

Vehicle drove into the officers at speed as they performed routine patrol of a parking lot

WELLINGTON: 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.

The vehicle drove into the officers “at speed” as they performed a routine patrol of a parking lot, before the driver turned and rammed a police car, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters in the South Island city of Nelson. A 32-year-old man was arrested and charged over the incident shortly after it happened at about 2 am local time. One of the officers, a woman, died in a local hospital hours later. The other was in serious condition but was expected to make a full recovery, Chambers said.

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A third officer who was in the rammed police car received a concussion and two members of the public were hurt, one of them after coming to help 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.

“There was, at this stage, no indication that was what about to occur, occurred,” Chambers said. New Zealand’s Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the officers were “targeted in what I consider a very cowardly attack.” 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. The woman killed, Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, had been an officer for 38 years and was “well-known and hugely respected member of the Nelson community”, Chambers said. She is survived by a spouse and children. The man charged is due to appear in court on Friday.