The Australian Police investigate the actions of an agent who Tasered a 95-year-old woman who was carrying a knife and is now in “critical condition” “No agent, none of us, is above the law. All our actions will be thoroughly scrutinized“Promised Peter Cotter of the New South Wales Police.

The events occurred on Wednesday when the Police went to the Yallambee nursing home, in the town of Cooma -about 430 kilometers from Sydney-, in response to an emergency call. A patient, who suffers from dementia, was “armed” with a steak knife in one of the rooms, according to Cotter.

When the elderly woman, identified as Clare Nowland, refused to drop the knife and approached “slowly” in his walker to the agents, one of them fired his taser to subdue her. The electric shock caused the woman, about 43 kilos and 1.57 meters, fall and hit your head against the floor.

The woman was taken to a hospital, where is “in critical condition”as specified by the police command, which has detailed that the old woman regains consciousness at times.

Now, members of the homicide department are participating in the investigations into the response of the agent, who has 12 years of experienceto determine if you have any liability.

Controversy over police use of taser

The actions of the police have once again highlighted the controversial use of tasers by police of Australia, questioned by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International.

In 2012, the Brazilian student Roberto Curti died in Sydney after receiving 14 shocks police and a court found four officers guilty in 2014 for the excessive use of force that led to the death of the young man, who suffered a psychotic episode after ingesting a psychotropic substance.