General Oz LEO guilty of manslaughter after tasing 95 year old woman

[kvr28]

I don't like MQB'ing but damn, frail elderly fall risks are one of the no no's in taser training.


A police officer who tasered a 95-year-old woman in her New South Wales aged care home has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Kristian White, 34, discharged his taser at Clare Nowland in a nurses' room at Yallambee Lodge, Cooma on May 17, 2023.

White and another officer responded to a triple-0 call made by staff as the great-grandmother roamed the facility in her walker, initially holding two knives and entering other residents' rooms.

She was later found by paramedics and police officers, including White, in a nurses' room at the facility with one steak knife.

An exchange lasted for about three minutes where officers attempted to get Mrs Nowland to drop the knife and stop moving, before White said "bugger it" and deployed his taser.


Mrs Nowland, who suffered symptoms of dementia, fell and hit her head after she was tasered and died a week later in Cooma Hospital from an inoperable brain bleed.

A 12-person jury delivered its judgement on the fifth day of deliberations in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney, finding White guilty of the single charge of manslaughter.

Members of Clare Nowland’s family who were in the court bowed their heads in relief and embraced each other when the verdict was read.

White kept his eyes on the ground as he received the news.

The offence of manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison in NSW.

Jury finds police officer who tasered 95yo woman guilty of manslaughter

A NSW Supreme Court jury has returned its verdict over the death of a great-grandmother who had a fatal confrontation with police in an aged care home.

www.abc.net.au

 

[kvr28]

View: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=8894787063915883

 

[NiteProwleR]

That's sad but 95 yr probably was looking for a way out. Boom, lights out, hell is over.

 

[CuddleBug]

I'm not sure what he did was wrong though, just the result was unfortunate. If they are trained to use the taser for a situation like that, then he seemed to do what was correct. The lady was old, but she had a knife. The lady was mentally off, but she had a knife which might make it more dangerous. I don't think that under any circumstances cops should be expected to physically approach and wrestle a person with a knife. If he would have stood there for another 10 minutes and the nutty old lady took the knife and stabbed herself in the throat, then people would have questioned why he didn't taser her and neutralize her quicker.

 

[kvr28]

I'm not sure what he did was wrong though, just the result was unfortunate. If they are trained to use the taser for a situation like that, then he seemed to do what was correct. The lady was old, but she had a knife. The lady was mentally off, but she had a knife which might make it more dangerous. I don't think that under any circumstances cops should be expected to physically approach and wrestle a person with a knife. If he would have stood there for another 10 minutes and the nutty old lady took the knife and stabbed herself in the throat, then people would have questioned why he didn't taser her and neutralize her quicker.

Blocking her off in a room and just wait would be an option. It's not illegal to kill yourself. We have walked away from suicidal people that haven't committed a crime and weren't putting others at risk. It's not worth the outcome.

 

[IschKabibble]

If they are trained to use the taser for a situation like that, then he seemed to do what was correct. The lady was old, but she had a knife.

Humanity has completely lost its way with all these rules. That cop is unable to reason on-the-fly and shouldn't be in the position of power that he is. Using a taser on a 95-year-old woman is insanity. If she's going to knife herself, that's on her. And I'd imagine if she charged them, they could leisurely back away from the threat. Could have been handled 100 different ways.

"roaming the facility in her walker"

"with one steak knife"

 

[buddie]

Taser is a tool. It’s like a Phillips head screwdriver. A Phillips head screwdriver is an excellent tool when you have a job that requires one. When you need a different tool, it’s not so useful. But most cops try to drive nails (so to speak) with their Taser. In reality they should just become competent with using their hands to solve problems. If they did that, they’d realize what a limited tool Taser really is and how much more effective they could be by solving complex problems using their own body. The human body has sensitivity that can register resistance that tools don’t have and it’s much easier to modulate the amount of force being used. Let’s face it, if you can’t effectively handle a frail geriatric woman, you’re not a very effective protector.

Now one the other hand, an old lady with a knife can still be a deadly threat and no one should expect someone to risk life and limb to try to engage empty handed against someone with a knife. If she had a knife, he’s well within the law to use deadly force if she’s an articulate threat to him or others. Maybe a swift kick would suffice but what’s to say that wouldn’t cause the same result and expose the officer to the same risk?

 

[mysticmac]

Blocking her off in a room and just wait would be an option. It's not illegal to kill yourself. We have walked away from suicidal people that haven't committed a crime and weren't putting others at risk. It's not worth the outcome.

The only thing I would add to this would be to call for some kind of mental health professional to come after she's alone in her home. Either the staff where she lives doesn't have the skills to talk her down, or she's not happy talking to them. I don't expect cops to have excellent skills dealing with the mentally ill either. I think they should have training in that regard, but they should know when to call for a specialist.

An old lady with a knife is a deadly threat, but tasing someone that old is likely to cause death too. Hell, my great grandfather died from slipping and falling when he was getting out of the tub. A cop should have better sense than that. Isolate the issue, make sure everyone else is safe, try to keep an eye on and a line of communication open, and get more help there.

That said, not every police department has access to all those resources.

 

[Uncle Tom Doug]

He looks like the fat guy that stole Pee-wee's bike.

 

[MountainMedic]

as the great-grandmother roamed the facility in her walker, initially holding two knives and entering other residents' rooms.

People would be surprised by how many times I responded to calls like this. Its actually really difficult to manage. They are frail as fuck, if you touch them they break, so you can't just grab em and restrain them. They are batshit, so you can't reason with them. They weigh nothing so trying to do weight based drug calcs for sedatives results in preposterously tiny doses that can be almost impossible to draw up, and they have 0 muscles to inject them into. Plus the 50 other meds they are on so you have to deal with possible interactions.
And then, of course, wtf is the ER going to do for them once you get them there? Nothing, because you can't fix crazy.

I absolutely hated these calls.
Plus, you're staring at your own likely future which would fuck with my head a little sometimes.

This is the prize for outliving your peers..

 

[Bushkill Blades]

Give her a forearm and take the damn knife.

 

[NiteProwleR]

Lol @Bushkill Blades
Goddammit, no juan thought to call a knife expert?!

 

[kvr28]

People would be surprised by how many times I responded to calls like this. Its actually really difficult to manage. They are frail as fuck, if you touch them they break, so you can't just grab em and restrain them. They are batshit, so you can't reason with them. They weigh nothing so trying to do weight based drug calcs for sedatives results in preposterously tiny doses that can be almost impossible to draw up, and they have 0 muscles to inject them into. Plus the 50 other meds they are on so you have to deal with possible interactions.
And then, of course, wtf is the ER going to do for them once you get them there? Nothing, because you can't fix crazy.

I absolutely hated these calls.
Plus, you're staring at your own likely future which would fuck with my head a little sometimes.

This is the prize for outliving your peers..

Yeah, there are a couple that I have dealt with that stands out, one was the little lady who said she couldn't unlock her door to let me in until the angels turned her water bottle cap blue. Was finally able to get in and was able to transport her. I would check in on her often. One day her front door was open when I stopped by so I went in calling for her and checked the whole house. Except for her bathroom in her bedroom.

I left to see if she was walking down the road when dispatch called me 5 minutes later and said her son had just shown up and found her in her bathroom with a broken hip, she had been laying there for 2 days. That one still bothers me but the family finally put her in a home and I lost touch with them.

Then there was the little old man who was just sitting in his car saying he was driving to florida when I asked him what he was doing. A deputy and I were able to get him into the house. His wife didn't know what to do, she was lost, while the deputy was talking to her I got him into the bedroom, undressed him, put on his PJs and tucked him in, we sat for about an hour talking about the pictures in the bedroom of his children and grandkids he remembered. But he couldn't remember his wife.

He passed away about 6 months later and the family reached out and thanked the deputy and I for treating their loved one with dignity and respect.

I have already told my wife that if I start going that direction, I'm not going to put her through it. I'm going to go for a long walk in the woods and last as long as I can.

 

[Bushkill Blades]

Lol @Bushkill Blades
Goddammit, no juan thought to call a knife expert?!

I'm more of a laceration expert.

What are we talking here? 3-500 stitches on a wide forearm lac? Boohoo. I did that shit when I was nine lol

 

[Bushkill Blades]

In case Prowler thought I was kidding...

 

[NiteProwleR]

Pretty sure I could nail a Sakubar on that old lady knife on hand, God rest her soul.

 

[Bushkill Blades]

I'm not actually shitting on the cop, btw.

Sacrificing a limb is not something most are prepared to do.

 

[buddie]

No one should expect a police officer to risk being stabbed to try to restrain an elderly person who has a ton of underlying health issues. There is a clear delineation of safety priorities. Hostages, then innocent bystanders then police then offenders. It’s too much to ask police officers to go onto tense, fluid and rapidly evolving circumstances without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and do anything other than what they are trained to reasonably try to do.

 

[NiteProwleR]

If you know true gung fu you can sweep her right onto her bed.

 

[SongExotic2]

Holy fuck. I'm watching day of the jackal and he's minesweeping with his bayonet. That's a real thing. I can't imagine anything so wank