NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has doubled down on why she refuses to personally watch the cop bodycam vision of a beloved granny being tasered, sparking a fiery clash with Sunrise host Natalie Barr on live television.
Clare Nowland, 95 , has been surrounded by family as she receives end-of-life care in Cooma Hospital, six days after being tasered by police at Yallambie Lodge nursing home in southern NSW.
The dementia sufferer was in a walking frame and carrying a knife when Senior Constable Kristian White blasted her with a Taser about 4am last Wednesday.
Commissioner Karen Webb has repeatedly said she refuses to watch the bodycam footage of the incident, sparking widespread backlash.
She faced tough questions from Sunrise hosts Barr and David Koch on Tuesday, prompting a fiery encounter.
‘One of the things that gripped everybody was your comment that you won’t watch the body-cam footage. Was that a mistake?’ Barr asked.
A defiant Commissioner Webb said she was surprised about the furore over her decision, which she stands by.
‘I’m actually not the investigator and the important thing here is that the detectives do their job and allow them to do their job without me interfering,’ she said.
David Koch and Nat Barr (right) confronted police commissioner Karen Webb live on Sunrise
Her response exasperated Barr.
‘So you have never seen anything like this, it has shocked the whole country. It has made news overseas,’ Barr argued.
‘What people don’t understand is why you are not interested in watching that?’
‘You don’t have to comment on it. You can still let the investigation run its course, but why you didn’t feel the need or the want to look at that footage is astounding people.’
Commissioner Webb doubled down, saying: ‘Whether I watch the video or not is not going to make this investigation go any quicker.
‘That is the point I am trying to make, I need to let these detectives the investigation team do their job without worrying about who is seen it who hasn’t.’
Koch said it was astounding to many that a 95-year-old could be tasered in the first place.
‘What sort of threat could she have been on a walker?’ he asked
Webb explained that it was important detectives work through to try and understand why.
‘There is no point in me speculating either. I don’t know,’ Webb stated.
Webb admitted she still hasn’t spoken to Senior Constable Kristian White, the officer who tasered the great-grandmother.
‘No, he is currently not in the workplace. I will probably speak to him at some point. My concern at the moment is with the Nowland family.
‘This is a terrible time for then. They are going there a lot. They have got my thoughts and prayers with them.’
Clare Nowland is now receiving end of life care in Cooma District Hospital, in southern NSW , after she was critically injured last Wednesday morning
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb doubled down on her decision to not watch the police bodycam at this stage, despite public backlash
Commissioner Webb was then confronted about the amount of training police officers get in cases where there are mental health or dementia issues.
‘We always are reviewing it. Of course, if there needs to be a change to that training, then we will update it,’ she explained.
Commissioner Webb said the role of a police officer seems to be growing wider a wider.
‘We are expected to know everything about everything and we are not experts on everything.
‘We prepare our officers to deal with all sorts of situations, but I do worry that we have been sent to a situation that wasn’t resolved by staff, wasn’t resolved by others and we get called as a last resort.’
Clare Nowland (pictured skydiving) is peaceful and comfortable as she receives end of life care in hospital surrounded by her family
Earlier on Tuesday, Commissioner Webb faced similar tough questions from Karl Stefanovic on the Today show.
‘I think everyone knows that you’re a can do commissioner,’ he said.
‘But people can’t reconcile the fact that you haven’t looked at this video. They just can’t fathom why you wouldn’t have.’
The commissioner acknowledged the public wanted to see the bodycam video but said ‘it’s a bit voyeuristic’, adding Ms Nowland’s family ‘don’t want it in the public domain’.
She said the family, whom she met last week ‘don’t want (the video) to be the lasting memory of their mother’s.
Commissioner Webb agreed that the footage ‘may not be good at all’ for the senior constable who fired the Taser at Ms Nowland but could not speculate on what the police investigation into the assault might find.
She was also grilled about a previous incident in 2020 involving Senior Constable White where he and a colleague unlawfully detained a motorcyclist in the ACT outside their jurisdiction.
‘Part of this investigation around the Mrs Nowland matter will take into account the officer’s history,’ Commissioner Webb said.
‘As I said it will be a very complete full investigation. An urgent review into that officer’s history and his current work status.’
Asked how long it would take to conclude the investigation, she replied ‘how long is a piece of string?’
She also admitted she may watch the video ‘when all the evidence comes before me’.
Karl Stefanovic
Meanwhile Ms Nowland’s family have issued a statement to the Monaro Post requesting privacy while thanking everyone for the outpouring of support across Australia and the world.
‘The Nowland family wishes to express our profound love and affection for our Mum, Nana and Great Grandmother Clare,’ the statement begins.
Well respected, much loved and a giving member of her local community, Clare is the loving and gentle natured matriarch of the Nowland family.
This is a most worrying and distressing time for our family and we are united in our support for Clare and for each other. We stand together. We thank everyone here in Cooma, the wider region and, in fact, the whole country and around the world for the outpouring of support for her and her ongoing battle with dementia- it touches so many.
While we fully understand the interest of the media we kindly ask all media representatives to respect the family’s – and Clare’s – privacy at this very difficult time. Thank you to everyone.’
Mrs Nowland’s family is now demanding answers as to what happened at Yallambee Lodge nursing home (pictured) last Wednesday
