95-Year-Old Dementia Grandmother Fatally Shot by Taser Gun: Police Found Guilty

A police officer who shot and killed a 95-year-old dementia patient with a taser after she was found carrying two steak knives in an Australian nursing home has been found guilty.

On the 27th (local time), British media including the BBC reported that an Australian court found Sergeant Christian White (34), who was charged with manslaughter, guilty of abuse of authority.

A 95-year-old grandmother who died from a brain hemorrhage after falling due to being hit by a police Taser. BBC broadcast capture

At around 4 a.m. on May 17 last year, police received a report that 95-year-old Claire Nowland was wandering around a nursing home south of Canberra carrying two steak knives. Police who arrived at the scene ordered the elderly woman to put down the knives, but when she did not comply, they fired a taser from a distance of about 1.5 to 2 meters. The woman fell from the shock and hit her head hard on the ground, eventually dying from a cerebral hemorrhage.

The victim was known to have dementia and weighed about 48 kg, walking with the aid of a walker. The Guardian reported that at the time the taser was fired, the woman was standing holding a knife in one hand and the walker with the other. Footage released to the media showed her slowly walking while leaning on the walker.

In court, Sergeant White stated, "I did not think she would be seriously injured, and I was devastated by her death," but also claimed, "The use of force was justified and was a response proportionate to her threat." Testimonies also indicated that prior to the incident, the woman had exhibited aggressive behavior such as throwing a knife at nursing home staff and unlawfully entering other residents' rooms.

However, the court ruled that firing a taser at an elderly woman walking with a walker constituted abuse of authority. Based on testimony from another nursing home resident that the woman carrying knives was not threatening, the court found the situation was not threatening enough to warrant the use of a taser.

The court stated, "The police used the weapon within just three minutes of finding the woman. The police responded impatiently," and applied the manslaughter charge. According to the BBC, Sergeant White, currently out on bail, will receive his sentence at a later date.