95-Year-Old Woman Tasered By Police At Senior Home Dies

The 95-year-old Australian woman with dementia who was hospitalized after she was Tasered by police in a senior home has died.

New South Wales (NSW) Police confirmed the death of Clare Nowland and said she was "surrounded by family and loved ones" during her last moments, BBC News reported.

NSW Police sent their thoughts and condolences to "those who were lucky enough to know, love, and be loved by Mrs. Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community."

In a statement, Nowland's family remembered the victim as a "well-respected, much loved, and a giving member of her local community" as well as the "loving and gentle-natured matriarch" of the family.

Nowland's family asked for privacy following her death.

Meanwhile, the 33-year-old senior police officer who Tasered Nowland has been charged with multiple counts and is scheduled to face court in early July.

The suspect was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.

As the investigation continues, the officer will remain suspended from duty with pay.

Last week, members of NSW Police's homicide squad were dispatched to Yallambee Lodge in New South Wales' Cooma district after receiving reports that an elderly woman was "armed" with a steak knife.

Two officers and a staffer at the care home tried to de-escalate the situation. But Nowland began approaching the police "at a slow pace" while carrying the knife, according to NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Peter Cotter.

Nowland was struck with a Taser twice, in the chest and at the back, and immediately fell, resulting in her hitting her head and suffering a fractured skull and a serious brain bleed, family friend Andrew Thaler told the BBC.

But Thaler said the elderly woman required a walking frame to move.

The police's response sparked backlash from human rights groups.

"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 [from] those police officers," Nicole Lee, People with Disability Australia (PwD) president, said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"This woman, an older woman of 95, she needed somebody to de-escalate the situation with her and talk to her, and to handle her with compassion and time and not Tasers," Lee added.

Meanwhile, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties urged the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission to conduct an independent investigation of the incident instead of the NSW Police's critical incident team.

The group's president, Josh Pallas, insisted that "police should never investigate police."