Officer suspended after Tasering 95 year old woman in Australian care home

A 95 year old woman with dementia was critically injured after being Tasered by a police officer at a care home in Australia. The officer, a 33 year old senior constable, has been suspended with pay as an investigation into the incident continues. Clare Nowland is currently receiving end-of-life care in a hospital, and the police response has been widely criticised as disproportionate.

New South Wales (NSW) Police were called to the care home in Cooma, approximately 114 kilometres south of Canberra, following reports that Nowland was armed with a steak knife. The officer discharged his weapon when the elderly woman, who was using a walking frame, approached him slowly. Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Cotter confirmed that Nowland had a knife, and she is believed to have suffered a fractured skull and serious brain bleed after falling and hitting her head during the incident, reported BBC News.

Community groups, such as the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and People with Disability Australia (PwD), have strongly criticised the response and called for better de-escalation training. Family friend Andrew Thaler expressed his shock and confusion to the BBC, questioning the level of force used and describing it as “absurd.”

In a statement released yesterday, Nowland’s family thanked the public for their support and requested privacy during this distressing time. The statement described Clare as a “well respected, much loved, and giving member of her local community” and the “loving and gentle-natured matriarch of the Nowland family.”

Investigations into the actions of the police and care, home staff, are ongoing, with the homicide squad involved. Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Cotter emphasised that “no officer, not one of us, is above the law” and that their actions would be “scrutinised robustly from a criminal perspective.”