Accused killer blew three times over the limit after Lyn Fleming died

A jury has been shown the moment murder accused Hayden Tasker’s alcohol breath test registered at three times over the legal limit, in the hours after he fatally struck Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming with his car on New Year’s morning in 2025.

By Mason Herbert and Laura James

It’s the eighth day of the 33-year-old’s murder trial at the High Court in Christchurch.

He argues he’s guilty of manslaughter, not murder, in relation to Fleming’s death. He has also pleaded not guilty to intentionally causing grievous bodily injury to another officer, Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay.

Tasker was taken to Nelson Police Station after the incident in Buxton Square.

Constable Taylor Simpson-Brown, was with him as he was transferred, describing his behaviour as “aggressive, obstructive” and “not very compliant”.

Simpson-Brown stayed with the accused in his cell, the pair discussing the seizures he’d appeared to have earlier at the scene.

“We briefly spoke about if it was a common thing that he had seizures.”

The defendant told the officer about an incident when he’d been knocked out or assaulted, resulting in a seizure.

While they were talking, the officer noticed Tasker was bouncing his leg. “He told me that was part of his seizure."

The court yesterday heard evidence that Tasker was known to fake seizures.

Sergeant Craig Beatson, who knew the defendant since he was a child, arrived at the scene after the collision. On seeing the defendant on the ground, he told other officers present he didn't believe the seizures were real.

He told the jury that he swore at the defendant that night, telling him to get up.

Tasker had no further seizure-like behaviour after that point, Beatson said, and Constable Simpson-Brown reaffirmed that today.

"The shaking stopped," he said.

Simpson-Brown was also the officer who officially checked Tasker’s alcohol levels at the station.

He recalled it was obvious the defendant was intoxicated.

“I noticed sort of red eyes, bloodshot eyes, slur in his speech and you definitely smelled the presence of alcohol in his breath.”

He initially carried out a breath screening test, with the reading coming back at more 400 milligrams per litre of breath.

“The legal limit for driving with alcohol is 250,” Simpson-Brown explained.

After taking a more precise breath test, Tasker blew 819 milligrams.

Typically, two breath test samples were required, but Tasker declined a second.

A blood sample was subsequently taken, which came back as 167 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50.

Simpson-Brown said detecting that level of intoxication from a driver would usually result in a court summons, but not an instant disqualification from driving.

Asked by the Crown how slurred Tasker’s speech was, he said: “I wouldn't say it was through every word, but it was definitely noticeable.”

After hitting Senior Sergeant Ramsay and Fleming, the accused looped back around Nelson’s Buxton Square, returning to the scene of his initial collision at considerable speed. This time, he ploughed into the back of a stationary police vehicle, injuring an officer inside.

Serious crash investigator Senior Constable Stephen Lamont visited the site later that day. He told the court the accused was estimated to be travelling at up to 60km/h when his Honda struck Fleming, calculating that she was thrown approximately 20m.

In his evidence, he also commented on the impact the defendant's vehicle had on the parked patrol car.

“The right front tyre mark was measured to be approximately 3.5m long and the left hand tyre mark front tyre mark was approximately 3.7m long," he said.

"That vehicle was, well, it was in park so that the wheels weren't able to move freely and so when the vehicle was struck from behind it was pushed forward and left those marks as skid marks on the pavement."

He added he believed the vehicle was stopped from being shunted even further forward as it hit the curb.

Detective Edward Manco, who later examined the contents of Tasker's car, where he's said to have been sleeping, found stacks of empty wine casks, wine bottles and a mattress.

There was also evidence of a McDonald's meal, purchased just over an hour before the incident.

Photos of what he found were shown to the jury today.

"Can we also see next to that wine bottle, there's a white box, it appears to be a medicine box," the 33-year-old's lawyer asked Manco.

He confirmed there were 23 tablets of the anti-depressant Citalopram in Tasker's car.

The defence contended the 33-year-old was depressed and intoxicated that night and intended to start a police chase, with the end goal of his suicide.

But the Crown's case is Fleming's death was "no mistake".

"The whole event was an act of completely senseless and pointless violence carried out by the defendant because he was angry at the police," Prosecutor Mark O'Donoghue told the jury.

They argue Tasker aimed to hit the officers with his car – well aware it could result in death.

The trial continues.