- A 95-year-old woman in Australia has died after being tasered by police in her nursing home.
- Police said Clare Nowland was holding a knife when they entered, and officers tasered her twice.
A 95-year-old woman in Australia had died after $4 in New South Wales.
The New South Wales Police announced on Wednesday that Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother suffering from dementia, had passed away.
"Mrs Nowland passed away peacefully in hospital just after 7pm this evening, surrounded by family and loved ones who have requested privacy during this sad and difficult time," the police said on Facebook.
Assistant Commissioner Peter Cotter told reporters the police were called to the Yallambee Lodge care home in Cooma — around 70 miles south of Canberra — on May 17. They had received reports of a resident holding a knife, per $4.
When they arrived, officers saw Nowland carrying a walking stick and a knife, per Cotter.
"At the time she was tasered, she was approaching police. It is fair to say at a slow pace. She had a walking frame. But she had a knife," $4.
She was tasered twice, once in the front and once from the back, and was bruised from both sides, a friend of her family, Andrew Thaler, told $4.
She spent the past week in the hospital, with her eight children and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren taking turns to be by her side, Thaler told $4
"This woman couldn't stand without a walking aid. She's not that strong," Thaler said to CNN, adding that she stood at a height of five feet and weighed only 95 pounds.
Nowland had been a resident of the nursing home for five years before the incident, and was described by a local priest as a "beautiful soul." She was also adventurous, and sky dived at the age of 80 to celebrate her birthday, per The Canberra Times.
The nursing home did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. The police declined to comment.