Australia’s Sydney On Wednesday, an Australian police officer was convicted guilty of manslaughter for using a Taser gun to shock a 95-year-old care home resident to death.
In May 2023, Kristian White was summoned to a care facility in Cooma, a town located roughly 90 minutes south of Canberra, after it was reported that resident Clare Nowland, who had dementia symptoms, was acting strangely.
According to authorities at the time, he used his Taser to shock Nowland, who was brandishing a steak knife. Later, she passed away in the hospital.
After nearly a week of deliberation, the jury convicted White guilty of Nowland’s manslaughter, according to a spokesman for the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the state where the incident occurred.
As early as this week, his sentencing is anticipated. The state’s maximum penalty for manslaughter is 25 years in prison.
At a press conference on Wednesday, State Police Commissioner Karen Webb stated that the agency was looking into White’s employment following his conviction.
According to the force’s January assessment of its Taser policy, no revisions were necessary, she continued.
Both the training and the policies are suitable. “The application of the use of the equipment is the substance of this matter,” she stated.
throughout Australia, the case has sparked indignation and raised awareness of police brutality throughout the nation.
The week of Nowland’s passing coincided with the conviction of a police officer in the same state for assault following an incident with a 16-year-old teenager from the nation’s Indigenous community in 2020.
Hundreds of music aficionados are currently suing the state police department, claiming that between 2016 and 2022, police officers unlawfully strip searched them at music festivals throughout the state.
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