A "frail" nursing home resident is said to have thrown a knife at staff before pointing a second blade at a police officer, whose colleague allegedly Tasered the elderly woman while she was standing still.
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This was "a grossly disproportionate response and excessive use of force", police allege in documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court as part of the case against Kristian James White.
White, a NSW Police senior constable, has been suspended on full pay since he Tasered Clare Nowland, 95, at the Yallambee Lodge aged care home in Cooma on May 17.
The 33-year-old is yet to enter pleas to charges of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault.
He has not been charged with killing Ms Nowland, who died in hospital about a week after the incident.
Documents released on Wednesday revealed for the first time that a nurse saw Ms Nowland, who had dementia and used a walker, carrying two kitchen knives when the incident began about 3.10am.
The 95-year-old is said to have entered the rooms of three fellow residents while brandishing the blades, which she refused to hand over to staff.
"While staff members ... continued to try to speak with Nowland, she has thrown one of the knives at the staff members, missing them and landing on the floor," the police documents state.
When efforts to contact the long-time resident's next of kin failed, nursing home staff called triple zero and decided to lock her in a room until emergency services arrived.
However, she left through a rear door and had disappeared by the time White and an acting sergeant arrived at 4.49am.
When she eventually turned up, sitting in an office chair about 5.05am, she was still holding a knife.
According to police, Ms Nowland disobeyed commands to drop the knife and instead stood up.
She then allegedly pointed the blade at the acting sergeant before slowly moving towards a doorway.
Investigators say Ms Nowland continued moving forwards, slowly, as White warned her to stop and told her: "See, you are going to get Tased".
The acting sergeant tried to block the path of Ms Nowland's walker, which is said to have prompted the 95-year-old to raise the knife and point it towards that officer, who backed away.
"Nowland remained stationary with the knife raised, looking towards [the] acting sergeant," police allege.
"[White] said, 'stop, just ... nah, bugger it'."
The senior constable then allegedly Tasered Ms Nowland in the chest, causing the elderly woman to fall backwards and hit her head heavily on the wooden floor behind her.
While administering first aid, paramedics are said to have found "a large bump" on the back of the "largely unresponsive" woman's head.
Ms Nowland was taken to Cooma Hospital, where staff found she had an inoperable bleed on the brain.
Homicide detectives subsequently began investigating White, who exercised his right to silence and declined the opportunity to take part in an interview.
According to court documents, NSW Police procedures say Tasers should not be used against elderly people unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The documents say Sergeant William Watt, who has expertise in operational safety, has inspected the scene and reviewed footage from CCTV and police body-worn cameras.
"In his opinion, the discharge of the Taser by [White] does not meet the threshold for a Taser discharge in the circumstances," the documents state.
"The prosecution will allege that [White]'s actions were a grossly disproportionate response and excessive use of force to the threat posed considering Ms Clare Nowland's age and ability."
Following the release of the documents on Wednesday, the Nowland family's solicitor, Sam Tierney, issued a statement.
"The facts alleged against Mr White are extremely confronting and shocking," Mr Tierney said.
"Clare's family ask that they are please given privacy and space while they consider this latest information to be released from NSW Police around the circumstances of Clare's death."
White, whose bail conditions include a ban on contacting Ms Nowland's family, is due back in Cooma Local Court on September 6.
