Jury watches footage of fatal collision with Nelson officers

A jury has been shown footage of the moment Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was fatally struck and thrown 20m by the vehicle driven by the man charged with her murder.

It's day two of Hayden Tasker's trial at the High Court in Christchurch.

He claims he's guilty of manslaughter, not murder, and has also pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the critical injuries of another officer, Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay.

His lawyers claimed he had meant to initiate a police chase that night and to eventually kill himself. The Crown contended that, when he aimed for the police officers, he had murderous intent.

CCTV footage shows car hitting police officers in fatal New Years incident - Watch on TVNZ+

"He admitted to seeing the two officers, to accelerating as hard as he could, to getting a decent run up and driving into the two officers," Crown Prosecutor Mark O'Donoghue told the court yesterday.

"And at the critical moment, that's the moment he did it, he admitted to being motivated by anger towards the police."

"He knew what he was doing, he appreciated the likely consequences, he did it anyway," he said.

Footage captured by bystanders played in court showed the chaos that unfolded after Tasker hit the officers, and the additional shock as he loops back to strike again, ramming into a parked police car.

"What the f*** did I just witness," one person was heard saying from inside their car.

In dash-cam footage from a community patrol vehicle that responded to the incident, emergency service communications were audible.

"Two officers down," is reported, as well as multiple calls for assistance.

"We need an ambulance and we need it right now," a voice is heard saying.

CCTV also captured resuscitation being carried out on Fleming.

Ramsay, who was thrown about 8m by the impact from Tasker's vehicle, sat in court as his video statement was played to jurors.

The sit-down interview was filmed at the end of January in 2025.

The officer was asked about his memories of the night, and recounted his movements as he monitored New Years partygoers with Fleming.

She'd joined him at about 10pm on foot patrol around the Nelson CBD, and the pair dealt with a number of incidents together.

While in Buxton Square, he recalled finishing a conversation with someone, and hearing a loud engine noise.

"I remember thinking, that's loud. This is the car park. Someone's going quite fast and I remember looking and just seeing a set of headlights at that point I just remember thinking f***. And then that's all, that's the last thing I can remember."

He spoke about slowly coming to, feeling groggy and wondering what had happened.

"I started hearing just commotion in the background as things happened. And I remember trying to get up and I wasn't in pain, but I realised pretty quickly my right wasn't working as it should be and someone was holding it. And I remember trying to move my legs to get up and I heard a voice saying, 'don't move, don't move, stay still'."

At first he thought he was being restrained, but when those around him used his name, he realised the voices were helping him.

As he lay on the concrete, he mentally ran through the events of the night, and remembered the loud engine noise and seeing headlights.

"Have I been hit by a car?", he thought, "Probably, so now what?

"At this point I remember trying to sort of open my eyes and look around. I couldn't really see a combination of people around me, I had quite a bit of blood on my face, and it was not painful but just because I was being held it was difficult for me to move."

Yesterday the court heard Ramsay was critically injured in the incident.

"He suffered serious injuries including a dislocated shoulder, a badly gashed head you could see through to the skull, as well as other cuts and severe abrasions to various parts of his body," O'Donoghue said to the jury.

Later in hospital, Ramsay was told Senior Sergeant Fleming was unlikely to make it.

"That really sort of brought home the reality of how this could have gone for me as well."

In court today he added, "with respect to the ultimate outcome for Lynn, I do consider myself to have got off quite lightly".

He said, for a number of people on the scene that night, it was the "worst night that you can have as a Police Officer".

But 16 months on, he's still recovering, re-gaining strength in his shoulder.

"I still don't have the full range of movement in it," he told the jury, explaining the impact to his body.

The trial continues tomorrow.