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Abuse of power? 95-year-old woman tasered by Aussie police dies
The tragic incident in which a great-grandmother was tasered by police at a nursing home a week ago, has sparked a widespread outcry.
Clare Nowland, the 95-year-old Australian woman who was tasered by a police officer a week ago at a New South Wales care home for carrying a knife, has passed away in hospital. Photo: Supplied/ NSW Police
A 95-year-old great-grandmother, who suffered from dementia, died on Wednesday, 24 May, a week after being tasered by an Australian police officer inside her nursing home, police said.
Clare Nowland had been in critical condition in hospital since being shot with an electronic stun gun on 17 May in a confrontation that shocked Australians and made international headlines.
‘Great sadness’: Great-gran dies week after police taser incident
“It is with great sadness we confirm the passing of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, in Cooma, tonight,” New South Wales state police said in a statement.
She passed away “peacefully” in hospital surrounded by family and loved ones, they said.
Nowland had 24 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren, police say.
Officer facing ‘serious charges’
A 33-year-old senior constable was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault over the incident.
The policeman, who has been suspended with pay, will face court on 5 July.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb said Nowland’s family had been informed of the “serious charges”, and thanked detectives for working quickly following the “nasty incident”.
‘Armed with a knife’
Officers had been called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in southern New South Wales by staff who told them that a woman was “armed with a knife”.
Police say they urged Nowland to drop a serrated steak knife before she moved towards them “at a slow pace” with her walking frame, prompting one officer to fire his taser at her.
Community outrage: ‘We need police reform’
The incident has led to calls for a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry and the release of bodycam video of the confrontation.
“The tasering of Ms Nowland has sparked a community outrage that shows how desperately we need police reform,” state Greens MP Sue Higginson said this week.
Call for release of bodycam footage
“The refusal to release the bodycam footage protects NSW Police from public scrutiny for all the wrong reasons – the NSW community has a right to know exactly what happened when Clare Nowland was tasered so we can start to take the steps needed for change.”
Police have said they do not plan to release police body-worn video of the tasering.
“We don’t intend to release it unless there is a process at the end of this that would allow it to be released,” the state police commissioner said over the weekend.
Webb said at the time she had only heard the audio from the recording: “I don’t see it necessary that I actually view it”.
She added that police may need to be “better equipped” to deal with dementia patients.
–By © Agence France-Presse
