By Jenny Noyes and Olivia Ireland
An experienced police officer’s decision to deploy a Taser on a frail 95-year-old woman during an incident at an aged care home in southern NSW is likely in breach of police procedures on the use of the potentially-lethal weapon.
Clare Nowland, a much-loved grandmother, was in a critical condition in hospital after she was hit by the Taser and fell, knocking her head, in the early hours of Wednesday.
A critical incident investigation of the highest level is under way as Clare Nowland fights for life in hospital, Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter said.
Nowland, a dementia patient who weighs 43 kilograms, was carrying a serrated steak knife she had obtained from the kitchen of Yallambee Lodge aged care home in Cooma, and had left her bed and been walking around the home for some time before the incident.
Emergency services received a call about 4.15am “along the lines of ... Clare having a knife in her possession”, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter told reporters on Friday.
“It is fair to say that she was armed with that knife,” he said.
NSW ambulance officers and police responded to the call, with two police officers arriving from their homes some time after the paramedics as Cooma does not have a 24-hour police station.
Cotter, the commander of the southern region, said officers commenced negotiations with Clare to drop the knife. “But for whatever reason, Clare did not do that”.
She was alone in a “small, confined-space” medical treatment room, with the police officers standing in the doorway, when she began to move towards them, he said.
The Taser was discharged once by a male senior constable with 12 years experience.
The incident was captured on body-cam footage Cotter described as “confronting”. He said the video would not be released to the public but would form “a significant and integral part of the investigation”.
Asked if Nowland was behaving 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 as to what was going through anyone’s mind as per the use of a Taser.”
Police rules for taser use say they should not be used on an elderly or disabled subject, or a subject of particularly small body mass, unless exceptional circumstances exist.
Exceptional circumstances are defined under the procedures as “circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to believe that prompt and unusual action is necessary to prevent actual bodily harm to self or others”.
Or as Cotter put it on Friday: “Generally we say it is there as a piece of equipment to defend yourself when you think your life is in danger or someone else’s life is in danger, where you have a genuine fear and threat of being physically overpowered, where there is a violent confrontation occurring.”
The officer who discharged his Taser has been taken off duty, with his status under review as the incident is investigated and he is given the opportunity to be interviewed.
Cotter would not say whether the officer might face criminal charges as a result of the investigation, but said “any member of the police force is not above the law”.
A critical incident was declared on Wednesday and given the highest classification, meaning what happened will be investigated by the homicide squad, will have independent oversight and be monitored by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb, Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Deputy Premier Prue Car each said on Friday that they understand and share the community’s concerns about the incident and their thoughts were with Nowland’s family.
Webb said NSW Police “are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness”.
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.
In Cooma Base Hospital on Friday evening, Nowland was being kept comfortable as she drifted in and out of consciousness, surrounded by loved ones.
News of the incident elicited outrage and concern from a variety of quarters, including advocates for civil liberties and people with disabilities.
NSW Council of Civil Liberties president Josh Pallas described the use of the Taser as “overreach” and said police “must cease to deploy tasers on vulnerable people who are experiencing dementia or a mental health crisis”.
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”.
With Sarah McPhee
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