A police officer who survived being mown down by Hayden Tasker’s vehicle in a busy Nelson carpark in the early hours of New Year’s Day last year has publicly shared the details of his ordeal for the first time.
Senior Sergeants Adam Ramsay and Lyn Fleming were on foot patrol just after 2am when Tasker drove at them in his white Honda Odyssey.
Ramsay was thrown 8m and suffered serious injuries, including a dislocated shoulder, a badly gashed head – so bad you could see through to the skull – as well as cuts and severe abrasions to other parts of his body.
Fleming was thrown 20m and was fatally injured.
She sustained catastrophic injuries but was resuscitated at the scene before being rushed to Nelson Hospital and placed on life support until her family could gather at her side to say goodbye.
She died minutes after life support was turned off.
Tasker was later charged with murdering Fleming and injuring Ramsey with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He is also facing charges of injuring a number of other police officers and civilians.
Tasker’s trial began yesterday before Justice Cameron Mander and a jury in the High Court at Christchurch.
Tasker admits driving his car into the officers but denies the charges against him.
He told the jury yesterday he was “not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter” in relation to Fleming.
Jurors are expected to hear from more than 40 witnesses during the three-week trial.
Ramsay gave evidence today, the first time he has shared his account of the incident publicly.
The evidence began with the jury watching a video from January 29, 2025, of his first police interview after the alleged murder.
Ramsay spoke about his night on patrol, saying he was a “floater” early in the night, moving between various teams.
About 10pm he “teamed up” with Fleming to carry out a foot patrol “addressing any issues” they found in Nelson’s CBD.
“[We were] just moving around, being visible and available to members of the public,” he said.
They walked to the carpark after receiving a call about a male being assaulted.
When they arrived, the man was being dealt with by other officers. They spoke to colleagues about several other incidents and decided to head back where they had been.
“I just remember hearing a loud engine noise and I remember thinking, ‘that’s really loud, someone’s going quite fast’,” Ramsay said.
“I remember looking and seeing a set of headlights… I remember thinking ‘f***’, and that’s the last thing I remember... I didn’t even have time to process.
“I remember waking up lying on my left-hand side… I was quite groggy… as I was coming to I started hearing commotion in the background.
“I remember trying to get up… realising pretty quickly my right arm wasn’t working as it should be and someone was holding it.”
Ramsay recalled someone telling him to stay lying down. He did not recognise them and tried to get up.
Then he heard them say his name and realised it was someone “trying to look after me” rather than “restrain” him.
“I remember thinking, ‘have I been hit by a car? Probably’,” he said.
“I remember trying to open my eyes and look around… thinking ‘if I’ve been hit by a car, this could be bad’.”
He could hear people saying “are you okay?”.
“I started replying, saying ‘I’m good’... hopefully that gave them some reassurance,” he said.
“At that stage, I was oblivious to all the other elements and only aware that I was injured.”
Paramedics arrived and assessed Ramsay and took him to the hospital.
He said it was “a miracle” he had not been more seriously injured.
In the hospital, Ramsay was told Fleming had also been hit by the car and that another colleague had been injured.
“I got a feeling for the scale of the incident,” he said.
“A couple of hours later, the District Commander [Superintendent] Tracey Thompson came to see me, and I remember asking how Lyn was. I had asked another couple of people, and they said ‘she is being looked after’.
“The District Commander was the first person who was quite honest about the situation... that Lyn had suffered unsurvivable injuries and she was unlikely to make it and they were waiting on family to arrive.
“That really brought home the reality of how this could have gone for me as well... I felt quite lucky.”
Ramsay’s evidence continues.
Earlier in the day the jury heard from Detective James Loh, who specialises in CCTV footage.
He described images captured of the incident, including Ramsay “airborne... like a bird”.
“There is a figure that’s on the bonnet that I determined to be Fleming,” he said.
Further footage included audio of police on duty calling for help after Fleming and Ramsay were hit.
“We have two officers down, they’ve been hit by a car, they’ve been rammed... I need everyone here,” a panicked officer is heard saying.
Yesterday, Crown Solicitor Mark O’Donoghue outlined the case against Tasker.
He told the jury Tasker was angry at the police and after “ruminating and brooding” he drove his car deliberately at the officers.
“To use his own words, he ‘f***ing planted it’,” he said.
“The defendant, accelerating as hard as he could, drove straight into them … He made no attempt to brake. He made no attempt to avoid the two officers."
“To summarise, 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.
“And at the critical moment, the moment he did it, he admitted to being motivated by anger towards the police... The Crown says this was no accident, no mistake, no manslaughter.”
Defence lawyer Josh Lucas said Tasker “accepts” he was driving and was responsible for Fleming’s death and the injuries sustained by Ramsay and others.
But he did not intend to kill or seriously harm anyone.
“Mr Tasker made a failed suicide attempt that night by way of an intended police chase, which sadly went wrong from the moment it started,” Lucas said.
“He is guilty of manslaughter but not of murder. The difference between the two of them in this case is intent.
“The defence says that Mr Tasker lacked the intent for murder.”
Lucas said it was important to note that what happened to Fleming and Ramsay was “a tragedy”.
“It should not have happened. But unfortunately, it did. And no one, especially not Mr Tasker, is shying away from those facts,” he said.
“He regrets what happened. He’s sorry for the loss and harm he caused. As he said to the police when interviewed: ‘It should have been me that died that night. No one else’.”
Lucas said Tasker also told police he was “going to have to live with the consequences of actions, namely someone being killed for the rest of his life”.
The trial continues.
Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast, A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz