Police are investigating after a great-grandmother in Cooma was tasered by police on Wednesday (May 17) after she was found wandering her Yallambee Lodge aged care home with a knife.
Police attempted to speak to Clare Nowland around 4:15am after they got the call, then reportedly struggled to disarm 95-year-old before a senior constable discharged his taser, causing the woman to fall and knock her head.
Ms Nowland was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before she was taken to Cooma District Hospital, where she remains in a critical condition after sustaining injuries including a suspected fractured skull and brain bleed.
A self-proclaimed “Family spokesman”, Andrew Thaler, told the Sydney Morning Herald Nowland was tasered in the chest and back just after 4am on Wednesday after police were called to Yallambee.
“She has dementia that waxes and wanes, she’s good and bad at times,” Thaler said.
“The family are shocked, the community are shocked … The question will be how was it appropriate to use this level of force on a 95-year-old woman?”
NSW Police released a statement on Wednesday with few details, saying only that the 95-year-old was injured during an “interaction with police”.
They released a further statement on Thursday stating that a critical incident team comprised of officers from State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the discharge of a taser.
“That investigation is subject to independent review,” a NSW Police spokesperson said.
“The officer’s duty status is also under review.”
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