By Olivia Ireland, Jenny Noyes and Perry Duffin
A 95-year-old woman armed with a steak knife was approaching police “slowly” and using a walking frame when she was Tasered at a nursing home in the state’s south, senior police have revealed.
The incident, captured in “confronting” body camera footage, left grandmother Clare Nowland with critical injuries after she fell to the ground and struck her head inside the Yallambee Lodge aged care home in Cooma early on Wednesday morning.
Clare Nowland, 95, was allegedly Tasered by NSW Police at Yallambee Lodge, an aged care facility in Cooma.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter said Nowland had obtained a serrated steak knife from the kitchen in the hours prior, and emergency services were called to the home after she produced it.
“Negotiations commenced with Clare to essentially drop the knife. For whatever reason, Clare did not do that,” Cotter said.
He said Nowland had been alone in her room with police negotiating at the doorway when she approached them with the knife in her hand.
A male senior constable with more than a decade in the force deployed his Taser on Nowland, who weighs 43 kilograms, causing her to fall and hit her head.
The Taser was discharged once, Cotter said.
Asked if Nowland was engaging in a threatening way, Cotter said she was moving “at a slow pace” and using a walking frame. “But she had a knife,” he said. “I can’t take it any further.”
Cotter said the incident was captured on the officer’s body camera and would now form part of a critical incident investigation led by homicide squad detectives.
“It is confronting footage,” Cotter said. “It forms a significant and integral part of the investigation and it is not in the public interest to be releasing that.”
Clare Nowland went skydiving for her 80th birthday.
A family spokesman, Andrew Thaler, said Nowland suffered life-threatening head injuries, including a fractured skull and brain bleed, when she fell during the altercation. Her family is reportedly by her side at Cooma District Hospital.
Earlier on Friday, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she shared the community’s concerns after Nowland was Tasered.
Webb said her thoughts “are with the family at this difficult time” as police investigate what occurred.
“I understand and share the community concerns and assure you that we are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness,” she said.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter during Friday’s press conference.Credit: Kate Geraghty
NSW Deputy Premier Prue Car said what occurred was “very concerning”.
“Obviously, our thoughts go out to the family of this woman that has gone through a pretty horrific situation,” she said.
A spokesman for NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley confirmed on Friday that the homicide squad would be involved in the investigation, which would be subject to an independent review.
Critical incidents are declared in cases where police are involved in an incident where a death or serious injury occurs. In most cases where a person is critically injured or killed as a result of police force, the homicide squad will be involved.
NSW Police initially released a statement declaring the critical incident on Wednesday, saying only that a 95-year-old “sustained injuries during an interaction with police at an aged care facility in the state’s south today”.
On Friday, police confirmed emergency services were called about 4.15am on Wednesday to the aged care facility after reports Nowland was armed with a knife.
“Officers attached to Monaro Police District attended, along with NSW Ambulance paramedics, and located the woman, still armed with a knife,” a police spokesperson said.
“Police attempted to speak to the woman. During this interaction, a senior constable discharged his Taser, causing the woman to fall and strike her head.”
Nowland was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to hospital where she remains in a critical condition.
Cotter defended the decision of police not to release more information earlier, saying police were “always transparent” about critical incidents.
“We are much better informed today to give an honest and transparent and open position of what occurred on that early morning a couple of days ago,” he said.
People with Disability Australia president Nicole Lee said she understood police had to be guarded in their response but it was “a little bit dehumanising and a little unempathetic”.
“The police have responded in the way we’d expect them to respond,” she said.
Lee said she hoped in future police responded to disability incidents without using any force or practices where the person would be harmed.
“Dementia is very challenging and it changes who people are and people can get quite aggressive and that aggression is coming from a place of fear and confusion for the individual who’s suffering with the condition,” she said.
“What they need is somebody that can slowly work with them, whilst keeping everybody safe, to be able to bring them back around to reality.”
Cotter said senior police had been at Nowland’s bedside with her family, speaking to them “candidly” about what they know. He would not comment on her medical history or her prognosis.
“She is a 95-year-old lady, a frail lady, a much loved lady. She is a resident of a nursing home who [was] receiving the care that she needs. Somewhere along this journey that was interrupted the other evening,” he said.
Thaler said Nowland “has dementia that waxes and wanes, she’s good and bad at times”.
“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?”
Patrick McGrath, the director of community engagement at St Vincent de Paul – the charity where Nowland volunteered locally for 50 years – said she was a “tireless worker” who provided assistance to people in need in the Cooma area until five years ago.
“I think there’s level of shock and [people are] not quite sure about what’s happened,” he said.
Pat, who has known Nowland his whole life, told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Friday that the family was devastated by what happened.
“She was always doing something for the community, always all her life she was active,” he said. “It doesn’t look good.”
Pat said when Nowland was in her 80s her children paid for her to go skydiving.
“She wanted to go parachuting, she jumped out of an aeroplane, beautiful person,” he said.
Snowy Monaro Regional Council, which operates Yallambee, confirmed via social media on Thursday that the incident took place at the facility. “Council are supporting our staff, residents, and families during this difficult time,” the statement read.
With Angus Thompson and Sarah McPhee
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