WA Today: Use of Taser on 95-year-old could breach police procedures
An experienced police officer’s decision to deploy a Taser on a frail 95-year-old woman during an incident at an aged care home in southern NSW is likely in breach of police procedures on the use of the potentially-lethal weapon.
Clare Nowland, a dementia patient, was in a critical condition in hospital after she was hit by the Taser and fell, knocking her head, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This occurred after she was found holding a serrated steak knife from the Yallambee Lodge kitchen.
The Taser was discharged once by a male senior constable with 12 years experience. This incident was captured on body-cam footage that Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter described as “confronting”. He said the video would not be released to the public.
Read moreBBC News: Outcry as Australian police Taser 95-year-old care home resident
An elderly Australian woman with dementia is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after being Tasered by police at a care home, BBC News reports. Police was called to Cooma's Yallambee Lodge after reports that 95-year-old Clare Nowland was carrying a knife.
It was reported that Ms Nowland was struck twice - in the chest and the back - before she fell, suffering a fractured skull and a serious brain bleed. Her family are already grieving as they do not expect her to survive.
Community groups, including the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and People with Disability Australia (PwD), have criticised the police response.
For more information, read the full article.
City Hub: 95 year-old woman left in critical condition after NSW Police tasered her
A 95 year-old woman has been left in a critical condition after she was allegedly tasered by police at a regional aged care facility, City Hub's Tileah Dobson reports.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Clare Nowland was wandering Yallambee Lodge in Cooma prompting a call to the police. After an altercation, it was reported that police resulted to tasering Nowland after struggling to disarm her. An investigation into the matter has now been launched by the police, and that a “critical incident team will now investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.”
President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Josh Pallas has begun calling on the police to cease the use of tasers on vulnerable people “who are experiencing dementia or a mental health crisis.”
Read moreThe Guardian: Woman, 95, Tasered by officer at Cooma aged care home, approached on walking frame with a knife, police say
Grandmother Clare Nowland was approaching officers at a “slow pace” using a walking frame when they deemed it necessary to deploy a Taser, leaving her fighting for her life in hospital.
The NSW police have confirmed that that the homicide squad was investigating the incident and that the senior constable involved, who had 12 years experience, is under review and no longer working. The internal investigation will be reviewed by NSW police professional standards and monitored by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
Civil liberties groups, including NSW Council for Civil Liberties demanded an external watchdog, such as the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, manage the investigation, rather than the NSW police critical incident team.
Read moreAl Mayadeen: NSW police taser 95 y/o woman with dementia in care facility
A 95-year-old woman with dementia was tasered by police in New South Wales at a senior care facility and remains in the Cooma district hospital with a suspected fractured skull and "brain bleed", according to local news outlets.
This launched a critical investigation on the matter at Cooma’s Yallambee Lodge "after an elderly woman sustained injuries during an interaction with police at an aged care facility."
The President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Josh Pallas, urged police to stop using tasers on vulnerable individuals in light of the incident.
Read moreAAP: Grandmother tasered in nursing home police altercation
A 95-year-old great-grandmother is reportedly fighting for her life after being tasered by police when she was found with a knife in a NSW nursing home, AAP's Samantha Lock reports.
According to media reports, Clare Nowland was standing next to her walking frame and holding a kitchen knife when aged care workers at the Yallambee Lodge called the police in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
During the altercation with the police, Ms Nowland had a taser fired at her back and chest, leading to her collapsing and sustaining critical injuries, reports say.
Read moreThe Guardian: NSW police allegedly Taser 95-year-old woman with dementia, leaving her with fractured skull
A 95-year-old woman with dementia is in hospital with a suspected fractured skull and “brain bleed” after she was allegedly Tasered by police at Cooma’s Yallambee Lodge.
The woman was claimed to have been tasered in the early hours on Wednesday morning after she was found wandering the aged care facility with a knife in her hand.
“The family are grieving because they don’t expect their nan to make it through the the day, or tomorrow at the latest,” Andrew Thaler, independent candidate for Eden-Monaro said.
Josh Pallas, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, called on police to cease deploying Tasers on vulnerable people following the incident.
Read moreABC News: Aboriginal people to face court without lawyers amid funding crisis
After the release of the federal budget, some groups who missed out on crucial funding are grappling with what it means for their future work including Australia's frontline Aboriginal Legal Services.
They had made a plea for $250 million dollars in emergency funds to keep up with record demand and try to tackle staffing shortages but it was denied, meaning the ALS has had to suspend its work in more than a dozen courts in regional New South Wales.
Long time NSW Council for Civil Liberties committee member, Nicholas Cowdery spoke to ABC News regarding the ALS funding crisis.
Read moreSydney Criminal Lawyers: The Proposed “Voluntary” National Digital ID System May Involve Facial Recognition
In late January of this year, news bulletins included details about the just released user audit report into myGov: “the government’s front door for digital services and support”, or put more plainly, a digital platform that currently links users to fifteen government services, including Medicare and Centrelink.
“myGov is critical national infrastructure” was the key takeaway, which was reiterated throughout the media, along with the ever-increasing use of myGov warranting greater investment to improve it in terms of expanding available services and making them less fragmented online.
But what wasn’t so front and centre was a report recommendation calling for the acceleration of the “development of Australia’s national digital identity ecosystem”, and that this online scheme, which will involve biometric facial recognition technology, should perhaps be integrated into myGov.
Read moreGreen Left: Knitting Nannas challenge anti-protest laws in NSW Supreme Court
Knitting Nannas and supporters gathered outside the NSW Supreme Court on May 10 to support climate activists and Nannas Dominique Jacobs and Helen Kvelde challenge New South Wales undemocratic anti-protest laws, Green Left's Rachel Evans reports.
This challenged has been filed by the Environmental Defenders Office, who believe that the protest laws are “so broad that a group of people could face serious criminal charges simply by protesting near a railway station and causing people to be redirected around them”.
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