Elderly Woman Dies After Being Tasered in Australian Nursing Home
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Police in New South Wales, Australia, confirmed the death of a 95-year-old woman who was tasered in her Australian nursing home last week.
The incident has led to charges against an Australian police officer, including recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and assault, CNN reported.
In a statement on Facebook, the police expressed, "Mrs Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time."
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb announced the charges against an unidentified 33-year-old senior constable Wednesday. The news came one week after a police call-out left great-grandmother Clare Nowland in hospital with serious head injuries sustained when she fell to the floor. She died on Wednesday, police said.
Last week, NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter told reporters that police were called to Nowland’s care home in the town of Cooma, New South Wales, around 4:15 a.m. to reports of a resident with a knife.
“At the time she was tasered, she was approaching police. It is fair to say at a slow pace. She had a walking frame. But she had a knife,” Cotter told reporters on Friday.
Video of the incident was captured by two police body cameras but the footage hasn’t been publicly released.
NSW police guidelines say that Tasers should only used on elderly or disabled people in “exceptional circumstances.”
Family friend Andrew Thaler said before the incident Nowland was frail and unable to stand unaided. She weighed just 43 kilograms (95 pounds) and was 5-foot-2 (1.58 meters) tall and was suffering dementia.
