A 95-year-old great-grandmother died in hospital after the officer accused of Tasering her at an aged care facility was charged with three counts.
Senior policeman Kristian White, 33, is scheduled to appear in court on charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, common assault, and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, which carry a maximum jail sentence of ten years.
A 95-year-old dementia patient dies after being Tasered by police at a nursing home.
On July 5, he is scheduled to appear in Cooma Local Court.
Police allegedly Tasered Clare Nowland after discovering her armed with a steak knife in her home at the Yallambee Lodge aged care facility in Cooma.
She died, according to the Guardian Australia, late Wednesday, May 24.
At a hastily organised press conference on Wednesday night, the NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, said Nowland’s family had been informed of the charges relating to what she described as a “nasty incident”.
“The Nowland family have been informed of this development and our prayers and thoughts are with Mrs Nowland,” she said.
The dementia patient sustained critical injuries including a fractured skull in the incident.
Webb, who has refused requests to release bodycam footage of the incident, said she would not view it herself until investigators had finished gathering the evidence.
“This has been traumatic for everyone in the police force,” she said.
“The community of New South Wales have trust in their police force … this is one incident out of over 2 million calls for assistance we get every year”
Webb said the charges could be upgraded based on Nowland’s condition. She also thanked the detectives who had “worked around the clock” to investigate the incident.
She defended suspending White from duty without pay, adding that people are innocent until proven guilty.
“He’s afforded the same opportunity as any other resident and his employment will continue to be reviewed, but at the moment he’s still suspended from the workplace,” she said.
