Driver runs down 2 New Zealand police officers, killing 1
A driver knocks down two people New Zealand The country’s police chief said that in the early hours of New Year’s Day, police patrolled on foot, killing one person and seriously injuring another.
The attack shocked a country where police officers are rarely killed on duty. Senior Constable Lynne Fleming is the first female police officer in New Zealand’s history to die as a result of a crime on the job, police said on Thursday.
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters in the South Island city of Nelson that in Wednesday’s attack, the car plowed into police officers who were on routine patrol in a parking lot at “high speed” before the driver turned and hit a police car. . Fleming died hours later at a local hospital.
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Shortly after the incident, a 32-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident at around 2 a.m. local time. He was charged with eight criminal offences, including murder, attempted murder, assault using a vehicle as a weapon and driving while disqualified.
The other officer hit by the car suffered serious injuries but is expected to make a full recovery, Chambers said. A third officer in the struck police car suffered a concussion and two members of the public were injured, one of whom was injured after coming to the injured officer’s aid.
Chambers condemned “the foolish behavior of a man who seemed determined to cause harm,” although he did not reveal a motive.
“There is no indication at this stage of what will happen,” Chambers said.
Police Minister Mark Mitchell told reporters the officers “were targeted in what I consider to be a very cowardly attack”. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X that it was a “devastating day” for the police and the country.
New Zealand Police (AP)
The attack occurred 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 time a police officer was killed on duty in New Zealand was in 2020, when a police officer was shot and killed by a fleeing driver. According to police records, 33 officers have died as a result of crimes while on duty since 1890.
Fleming has been an officer for 38 years and is a long-term netball coach at a local girls’ high school.
“She was a mother, she was a wife, she was a well-known and well-respected member of the Nelson community,” Chambers said.
The accused man will appear in court on Friday. In New Zealand, a murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years set by the presiding judge.
