Lets be real, hes a tub of lard.
The idea that a 95 year old woman could have caused any notable harm to him, is utterly ridiculous. I hope he cops it.
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Still, 95 years old woman with a walking frame.
Im sure he could have taken her down without a taser
I once actually broke off a short relationship with a girl who operated a psychic phone hotline. She said she was very surprised l didn’t want to see her again.
I said she shouldn’t be.
True story…
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This is what I can’t wrap my head around. Like just forcibly slap her hand. The knife will go flying. It’s not hard.
No exactly, i cant work it out either.
Just strange behaviour by the cop.
I cant see how he mounts a defence.
I’m pretty sure as part of the submitted evidence there was video of him saying “bugger it” before firing the taser. Which, personally, I think is pretty damning irrespective of the trial judgement.
But, I think a broader discussion needs to come from this. I don’t think police are equipped to deal with situations like this. There needs to be some other mechanism to deal with aggressive dementia (or just elderly in general) patients in aged care facilities. People who have contextual understanding and expertise.
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Weak as pi$$, not fit for the job
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In training if someone pulls a knife you pull out your taser or gun.
In this instance I would not have reached for either.
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Genuinely curious, what would you have done in this sort of situation when there really is no threat?
So the above article said he tried some form of negotiation then tasered. De escalating a situation is the first step. Keep her talking, trying to persuade her to put the knife down. Her age and use of a walking frame would give you sufficient time to move aside if she lashed out.
If you reach the point of not persuading her to put the knife down, I’d back myself in to take it off her with an arm bar take down. But conscious of not hitting the ground hard. He could have used OC spray - low dose - that stuff really hurts and she would have dropped the knife.
Its been a while since I was a cop though.
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We’ve just had an incident in our sleepy street. Unarmed person high on drugs wearing only trackie pants, not threatening anyone, but trying to get into the front door of a house with people inside, after lying on the nature strip.
Two cops arrived, got back up for another two, eventually six cops to restrain him until the ambulance arrived.
Fortunately for us, the two local cops came quickly, were able to get back up relatively quickly.
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First job I went to when meth was involved we got a call on the radio you never want - team mate down, suspect attempting to get firearm.
The whole ACT police force lit up every team wanted to assist. I got there first and this guy who was about to disarm my team mate was a tall skinny kid. But the strength of a brute. It took 8 of us to get him on the ground and handcuff him.
He was banging himself against the door of the divvy van so hard we thought the car would tip over.
OC spray did nothing. Baton nothing. It was just the sheer mass of numbers that subdued him.
We had a debrief after it. We knew about meth but first time responding to an incident. It was really scary. I’ll never forget that job.
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Really insightful. You have to wonder why someone would become a cop and stay a cop.
I’d rather be a cop than a teacher. Or ambo. They have to endure a lot.
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Question for you @Heffsgirl with the cop tasering the old lady would training say use the taser in that after trying to talk to the suspect down, for example it was a 25 year old bloke in the same spot or is it a case by case thing?
So I’ve been out for a while now. But knife meant taser/gun. It was how we trained.
If that was a 25 year old bloke I’d have tried to de escalate. If it didn’t work then taser.
There is a tension between muscle memory training and responding to different incidents (no two are the same). High pressure you don’t have the same sensory inputs so muscle memory was supposed to support that.
That being said, presumably the cop got the call to the incident. You would talk out a response with your partner on the way. Or if solo, I’d have called my sergeant.
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This needs a thread in itself.
The worst 11 Australians like a cricket team, or worst 22 like AFL.
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I understand your point, but when my Mum had dementia in her late 80s, and she was nastly, violent and hurt people, and had to be restrained. I think in at least of of her violent episodes, a Taser could have been handy.
It was a horrible time for us, my Dad who was about 90 was just shattered and the Staff at the nursing home were useless.
Not excusing this Cop, but maybe you had to be there.
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I’ve seen incidents at aged care residences where aggressive residents with dementia are a danger to themselves and others. Reportedly the woman tasered was within that category. Not all dementia patients can be talked through by trained aged care workers.
There was one incident I witnessed where the resident was hitting others with implements the staff couldn’t take from her and she would have fallen over without her walker. She was eventually manoeuvred into an empty corridor and fortunately went to her room of her own accord.
The staff are limited in the restraints permitted to them. I was told that, if the staff can’t calm them and prevent harm within the limits of their authority , the police are called.
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