Tasered by police, 95-year-old Aus woman dies

Sydney, May 25 A 95-year-old woman with dementia who suffered life-threatening head injuries after she was tasered by police at her aged care home in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state, has passed away, officials said.

On May 17, police officers were called to the Yallambee Lodge in Cooma town, some 397 from state capital Sydney, after reports that the woman, Clare Nowland, was carrying a knife.

"Mrs Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7 p.m. this evening," NSW Police Force said in a statement late Wednesday.

"Our thoughts and condolences remain with those who were lucky enough to know, love, and be loved by Mrs Nowland during a life she led hallmarked by family, kindness and community," the police added.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters that a 33-year-old senior constable, who was involved in the Taser incident, was charged with three offences, including recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.

The charges could possibly be upgraded. "It depends on what happens," said Webb.

According to a briefing by NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter, when the 95-year-old was Tasered, she was approaching police at a slow pace.

She had a walking frame with a knife in her hand.

"It is fair to say that she was armed with that knife. The knife in question was a steak knife, a serrated edge knife that she had obtained from the kitchen area of the nursing home a couple of hours earlier," said Cotter.

Police officers tried to convince the elderly woman to drop the knife, but she failed to do so.

"One of the police officers who responded, the senior constable, activated his Taser which struck Clare, whereby she fell to the ground, striking her head," Cotter noted.