At this point,police said,White switched on his Taser and pointed it towards Nowland,telling her:“This is a Taser,drop it now,drop it,this is your first warning.”
White said “Clare stop” and activated a warning arc on the Taser,which Nowland did not react to,before saying:“See,you are going to get Tased”.
White was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm,assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
As Nowland stood with the knife raised looking at the second police officer,White allegedly said:“Stop,just ... nah bugger it” before Tasering the elderly woman from about 1.5 to two metres away.
The two probes struck Nowland in the chest while she was partially gripping her walker with her left hand and she fell backwards,striking her head heavily on the wooden floor. She was taken to Cooma Hospital in a largely unresponsive state,with a large bump on her head.
A police expert in operational safety and training later reviewed the CCTV and body-worn camera footage of the incident and said in his opinion the discharge of the Taser did not meet the threshold for the weapon’s use.
Police standard operating procedures identify that a Taser must not be used against an elderly or disabled person,except in exceptional circumstances.
“The prosecution will allege that the accused’s actions were a grossly disproportionate response and excessive use of force to the threat posed,considering Ms Clare Nowland’s age and ability,” the police document said.
White declined to participate in an electronically recorded interview about the incident or make any comment. The other officer took part in an interview on May 17.
Justice Robert Beech-Jones released the document of police allegations to Nowland’s family on Tuesday,to give them time to prepare themselves for what it contained,before it was given to the media a day later.
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Shortly after the document was publicly released,the Nowland family said in a statement through their lawyer – Sam Tierney from Ken Cush&Associates – that the allegations were extremely confronting.
“Clare’s family has today been provided with a copy of the police statement of facts after a direction was made by the NSW Supreme Court,” the family said.
“The facts alleged against Mr White are extremely confronting and shocking.
“Clare’s family ask that they are please given privacy and space while they consider this latest information to be released from NSW Police around the circumstances of Clare’s death.”
White was charged in May with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm,assault occasioning actual bodily harm,and common assault.
He has been suspended from duty,with pay,and will next face Cooma Local Court on September 6.
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