Police have suspended a 33-year-old constable after a 95-year-old great-grandmother was Tasered last week.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NSW Police said the senior constable attached to the Monaro Police District had been taken off duties while retaining his pay.
Internal investigations into the incident would continue, the police statement said.
The police had previously said that "confronting" body cam footage showed a senior officer firing his Taser at Clare Nowland at the aged care home in Cooma. She was walking slowly using a walker while holding a knife.
The family believed the lady then fell under the force of the electric charge from the Taser, and hit her head, causing serious injury, including a fractured skull and a brain bleed. She remains in a critical condition in Cooma Hospital.
On Saturday, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said of the patient's health: "The next few days will be critical and is likely to be very difficult for the family, and my condolences and thoughts are with the family."
The woman's parish priest said the town was utterly shocked by the events.
"No way would you ever pick up that she was anything but a beautiful soul - that's the lady that everyone knows her as," Father Mark Croker said.
People in Cooma said Ms Nowland was very well liked in the town. She had worked at the local branch of Vinnies. Before the incident, prayers had been said for her at St Patrick's church.
At the age of 80, she did a sky dive to celebrate her birthday. Her pluckiness was given a lot of publicity nationally, with pictures of the octogenarian soaring through the atmosphere.
Father Mark said: "Clare Nowland has been here for many years, she is a wonderful parishioner here at St Patrick's Family Parish.
"I've visited her at the nursing home - I sat with her last at her bedside last week.
"I just can't imagine it - the shock of it is the age of the lady - she is frail and aged."
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
