Police shocked a 95-year-old woman with a stun gun as she approached them using a walker and carrying a steak knife in an Australian nursing home.
The incident, which took place on Wednesday, resulted in her being hospitalized in critical condition after she fell and struck her head on the floor.
The incident involving Clare Nowland, who has dementia, has prompted a high-level internal police investigation. It has also ignited a debate regarding the use of stun guns, also known as Tasers, by the New South Wales state police.
While stun guns are considered a less lethal alternative to firearms, they have sometimes proven to be more dangerous than other methods of policing.
According to the police, Nowland’s injuries were caused by her head hitting the floor rather than the electric shock from the stun gun itself.
Police were called to Yallambee Lodge, a nursing home in Cooma that specializes in higher care needs including dementia, after staff reported that Nowland had taken a serrated steak knife from the kitchen.
Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter did not comment on whether the use of the stun gun by a police officer with 12 years of experience was excessive.
Cotter explained that police had engaged in negotiations with Nowland for several minutes before using the stun gun when she approached the doorway where the officers were stationed.
“At the time she was tasered, she was approaching police. But it is fair to say at a slow pace. She had a walking frame. But she had a knife. I can’t take it any further as to what was going through anyone’s mind,” Cotter said to reporters.
Nicole Lee, president of People with Disability Australia, expressed her shock at the police response.
“She’s either one hell of an agile, fit, fast, and intimidating 95-year-old woman, or there’s a very poor lack of judgment on those police officers and there really needs to be some accountability on their side,” Lee commented.
Family spokesperson Andrew Thaler noted that Nowland’s dementia “waxes and wanes.” “The question will be, how was it appropriate to use this level of force on a 95-year-old woman?” Thaler said, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Cotter described the video from the two police officers’ body cameras as “confronting footage,” but stated that it is part of an internal police investigation and would not be released to the public.
He also mentioned that the officer who used the stun gun was currently “not in the workplace,” though it was unclear if this meant the officer was suspended.
Nowland, a great-grandmother, had previously made headlines in 2008 when she celebrated her 80th birthday by going skydiving.
