Courtesy of Andrew Thaler
Clare Nowland, 95, was tasered by police at her retirement home in Cooma, New South Wales, Australia.
Brisbane, Australia
CNN
—
An Australian police officer who allegedly tasered a 95-year-old woman in her nursing home last week has been charged with multiple offenses including recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and assault.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb announced the charges against an unidentified 33-year-old senior constable on Wednesday. The news came a week after a police call left great-grandmother Clare Nowland in hospital with serious head injuries sustained when she fell to the ground.
“This matter is now before the court and I can’t say anything other than to say that the Nowland family has been made aware of this development and our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Nowland and her family,” Webb said. to journalists.
Last week, NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter told reporters that police were called to Nowland care home in the town of Cooma, New South Wales at around 4.15am to report a resident with a knife.
“At the time she was tasered she was approaching the police. It’s fair to say at a slow pace. She had a walker. But she had a knife,” Cotter told reporters on Friday.
Video of the incident was captured by two police body cameras, but the footage has not been made public.
NSW Police guidance says Tasers should only be used on elderly or disabled people in ‘exceptional circumstances’.
A family friend, Andrew Thaler, said before the incident that Nowland was frail and unable to stand without help. She weighed just 43 kilograms (95 pounds) and was 1.58 meters (5ft 2in) tall and suffered from dementia.
After the charges were laid, he wondered why it took the police so long to act.
“Why did it take so long? Anyone else would have been charged immediately,” Thaler said.
Earlier this week Nowland’s family released a statement asking for privacy and thanking people for their support.
“Clare is the loving and gentle matriarch of the Nowland family,” the statement said, according to CNN affiliate 9 News.
“This is a most worrying and distressing time for our family and we are united in our support for Clare and each other.
“We are all fighting together. We thank everyone here in Cooma, in the wider region and indeed across the country and around the world for the outpouring of support she has given and her battle in course against dementia – which affects so many people.