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LAWYERS FOR THE family of a 95-year-old great-grandmother who died after being tasered by Australian police have today said they are suing the state government.
Clare Nowland, who suffered from dementia, died 24 May – a week after a state police officer shot her with an electronic stun gun at her nursing home in southern New South Wales.
“A civil claim has been brought,” the family’s lawyer, Sam Tierney, told AFP.
The suit against the New South Wales government seeks damages on behalf of Clare Nowland’s estate for alleged battery and assault, he said.
“The family doesn’t want to make any comment at this time given the ongoing criminal process,” Tierney added.
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A 33-year-old senior police constable has been charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault, over the incident.
He is due to face court on 6 September.
Officers had been called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home in southern New South Wales by staff who told them that a woman was “armed with a knife”.
Police say they urged Nowland to drop a serrated steak knife before she moved towards them “at a slow pace” with her walking frame, prompting one officer to fire his taser at her.
A pre-trial conference for the civil case has been scheduled for 24 August at Bega District Court, court documents showed.
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@Greg Ward: when I read she had a knife I thought fair enough but then I read she was advancing towards them slowly with her Zimmer frame I started thinking that maybe she wasn’t as much a threat as first thought.
I feel sorry for the lady who died and her family, she should never have been tasered. It seems Police are loosing common sense very easily and getting taser happy. R.I.P
@Robert Halvey: she wasn’t unarmed, according to the story she had a knife, but, was moving slowly, with a walking frame. Whilst she was armed, tasering wouldn’t have been the first option I’d have gone with to reduce the danger.
@Robert Halvey: Unarmed? Did you read the article?? She had a knife but this was a MASSIVE overreaction by the police. Pretty sure I could disarm a 95 Yr old woman
The staff trained to deal with dementia patients called the police who most likely were not. What did they expect from the police service???? A negotiator speaking to someone with Ahlzeimers? And when I read she walked towards them on her frame I started laughing. Was she too quick for them to take evasive action?
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