Shocking details have been revealed about the final moments of 95-year-old Clare Nowland before she was tasered and knocked unconscious after a judge revealed the police facts in the case.
NSW Police facts reveal that the great-grandmother was carrying two kitchen knives and had entered the room of three other residents, an elderly woman and two men, at her nursing home.
The facts show that when staff tried to trick Ms. Nowland with the knives, she threw one of them at a member of staff.
The accused police officer, Senior Constable Kristian White, took a Taser 7 from the Cooma Police Station and arrived at Yallambee Lodge in the south of the state at 4:49 a.m. on May 17 with his partner, a female sergeant.
At 5:05 am, police located Ms. Nowland, arriving in the hallway outside the treatment room with paramedics positioning themselves at the entrance.
When asked to place the knife on the desk, Ms. Nowland placed a flashlight on the desk and began to move forward in her walker while still holding the knife.
The sergeant entered the room and was within three feet of Ms Nowland, who raised her hand and pointed the knife at the officer, forcing her to step back.
Mrs Nowland then pointed the knife at the sergeant again. At this point, Kristian White initially activated his Taser 7′ into Ms. Nowland’s chest area flashing lights and the laser pointer on her person, without deploying the weapon.
A judge has released details of the final moments of 95-year-old Clare Nowland (above) before she was tasered, hit her head and never regained consciousness before dying a week later.
Both White and the sergeant signaled to Mrs. Nowland, who was only a meter or two away, to stop.
White then told her, ‘Clare, stop now, look at this, this is a Taser, drop it now, drop it, this is your first warning.’
Ms. Nowland continues to advance and the sergeant tells White “maybe arc, to warn” and White says “Clare, stop” and activates the warning arc, a brief audio and visual warning display of the Taser’s arc flash without deploying the probes.
The facts indicate that Ms ‘Nowland appeared to have little or no reaction to the ‘Warning Bow’ and continued to move slowly towards the door.’
White said, ‘Look, they’re going to taser you,’ and ‘Clare, stop it.’ Nowland raised the right hand that was holding the knife at chest height and White said, “No, fuck” and deployed the Taser 7 at Ms. Nowland from approximately 1.5m to 2m away with the probes striking her in the chest area.
‘Nowland, who was still partially gripping the walker with his left hand, fell backwards and hit his head hard on the wooden floor.’
Officers ran to apply CPR and found “a large lump” on Ms Nowland’s head.
Ms Nowland died a week later at Cooma Hospital, sparking global outrage.
She died on the night of May 24, surrounded by family including her eight children, 24 grandchildren, and 30 great-grandchildren.
White was charged with three alleged crimes of violence for discharging his weapon at the dementia patient when she approached him with a knife in hand.
Clare Nowland’s family issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying they found the facts alleged in the case “extremely confrontational and shocking” and asked for privacy.
Clare Nowland had left her room at the Yallambee Lodge nursing home in the early hours of May 17 when police were called and she was tasered.
The facts were made public by NSW Supreme Court Justice Robert Beech-Jones a day after he granted bail to the policeman accused of Tasering Ms Nowland under strict bail conditions.
Judge Beech-Jones delayed the publication of the police facts in the case by one day so that Ms Nowland’s family would have a chance to read them before they became public.
On Tuesday, His Honor described the charges against the 33-year-old officer as “undoubtedly serious” but authorized the redacted copy of the police facts to be released on Wednesday afternoon.
Judge Beech-Jones granted White bail Tuesday after a hearing in which the officer appeared via Audio Visual Link from an unspecified location as prosecutors filed a detainer request to have him released on bail with conditions including that he be barred from any contact with the late great-grandmother’s family.
Taser police officer Kristian White (above right) is on unconditional bail charged with three counts of violence in the case of 95-year-old Clare Nowland.
Dressed in a suit and tie, Officer White politely responded to a brief question before being ordered to behave himself, appear in court when necessary in the future, and not to approach Ms. Nowland’s family or any witnesses to the case. case.
He has been living freely in the community, on unconditional bail, since he was charged the afternoon shortly before Ms. Nowland died with reckless grievous bodily harm, assault causing bodily injury, and common assault.
He was charged via subpoena and has remained on unconditional bail, however that is likely to change with prosecutors asking for conditions to be imposed if he is allowed to remain in the community.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb has been charged with a cover-up after police medics erased publicity about Ms Nowland’s alleged assault of any mention of Tasering, that Nowland had a knife, that she was in a nursing home or that the policeman’s employment was under review
Suspended police officer Kristian White (above in Cooma last month) will appear before the NSW Supreme Court while prosecutors seek his detention or strict bail conditions.
The new details of the case come after it was revealed that Ms Nowland’s family is suing the state of New South Wales over her alleged assault and brought a civil action on her behalf before her death.
Ms Nowland, a 43kg, 157cm great-grandmother with dementia, was tasered inside a nursing home treatment room as she slowly approached Snr. Constable White and a Sgt.
After Mr. Constable White fired his Taser at her and she fell, Mrs. Nowland never regained consciousness before dying.
The officer allegedly shot Ms. Nowland after asking her to ‘stop’ several times, and then say ‘Oh damn’ while deploying the Taser.
Despite intense public interest in the tasering of 95-year-old Ms Nowland, Commissioner Webb has consistently refused to view body camera footage of the incident, which top police described as “confrontation”.
