Dalian Atkinson

[Patrick Thistle]

Dalian Atkinson

Inquest opened today. He received 35 minutes of CPR.

The officers are under criminal investigation.

[Ray de Galles]

Dalian Atkinson: CPS alerted over footballer Taser death

[Patrick Thistle]

This still disgusts me and I really think the police actions were down to Atkinson being black.

[RobW]

Taken over 3 years since his death, but a police officer has now been charged with Atkinson's murder. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50333081

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

First time a police officer has been charged since Joy Gardner's murder.

The jury seemed to be very keen to grasp onto any sliver of reasonable doubt, even if it was provided by Britain's worst forensic pathologist.

[Paul S]

The police office charged with murder has been bailed which is very unusual for a murder suspect.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Dalian Atkinson death: police officer charged with murder is named

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...y_to_clipboard

Both police officers named. They are still on bail despite the charge of murder for one of them.

[Paul S]

Two police officers have denied the murder and manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson after they entered her plea at the Crown Court in Birmingham today. The trial is due to start next week.

I must admit I had forgotten about this case. But was does it take 4.5 years to come to trial?

[jwdd27]

There was an IOPC report into his death, which somehow took 3 years to complete. They referred to CPS, who charged the coppers at the end of 2019, then the trial has been pandemic delayed for a year.

I think one can assume the police have been fairly uncooperative with the inquiry and have caused a delay to the process whenever they can, hence the long wait.

Let's hope justice is done.

[Patrick Thistle]

If it hadn't been Dalian Atkinson, just a random black guy from Telford, I doubt this would have even got to trial.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

If it hadn't been Dalian Atkinson, just a random black guy from Telford, I doubt this would have even got to trial.

I could be wrong but I don't think a police officer has ever been convicted of murder for something they've done while on duty. The last two to stand trial for murder I think were PC Anthony Long who shot unarmed Azelle Rodney eight times from close range during a "hard stop" police operation and PC Christopher Sherwood who shot James Ashley who was naked and unarmed, during a raid that was based on fabricated evidence.

Sgt Alwyn Sawyer was convicted in 1985 of the manslaughter of Henry Foley who was kicked to death in a police cell, after originally standing trial for murder. Interestingly the judge in that case was William Macpherson of the Macpherson report.

[Antepli Ejderha]

There will be no justice for Dalian I'm afraid.

[Paul S]

The trial has started today and the jury have heard this so far:

A murder-accused PC Tasered an ex-footballer for six times longer than is standard before kicking him twice in the head, a jury has heard.

PC Benjamin Monk is charged with the murder of Dalian Atkinson during an altercation in Shropshire in 2016.

He appeared at Birmingham Crown Court for the first day of his trial with co-accused PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who is charged with assault.

The former Aston Villa star died after he was Tasered for 33 seconds.

PC Benjamin Monk deployed a Taser at Mr Atkinson three times and on the third used it for more than 30 seconds
Prosecutors said the default setting for a Taser is five seconds but Mr Monk, 42, continued to press the trigger, overriding the system for 33 seconds.

Mr Monk and 31-year-old Ms Bettley-Smith, officers with West Mercia Police, arrived at Mr Atkinson's father's house in Meadow Close, Telford, shortly before 01:30 BST on 15 August after neighbours had reported Mr Atkinson acting strangely and shouting in the street. The court was told Mr Monk Tasered Mr Atkinson, who had serious health problems, three times after he came to the door acting erratically and claiming to be the Messiah.

The first two attempts were ineffective but on the third Mr Atkinson fell to the ground.

While he was unresponsive, jurors heard the police officers "set about him".

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...droidApp_Other

Pretty much an identical article in the Guardian.

Imprints of shoe laces on his head.

[Sits]

Jesus

[Amor de Cosmos]

If Monk gets time the odds of him getting out in one piece are between zero and none, based on the evidence so far.

[Patrick Thistle]

I'm not overly concerned about his welfare tbh.

[ooh aah]

Given the witness testimonies and that of the medical experts, his defence team are going to have to be spectacularly good.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Given the witness testimonies and that of the medical experts, his defence team are going to have to be spectacularly good.

He's a policeman, or was, he'll be protected. Unlike Dalian.

[Amor de Cosmos]

He's a policeman, or was, he'll be protected.

In prison?

[Nefertiti2]

In prison?

I hope so, yes.

If found guilty he should go to prison, but he should not face cruel or unusual punishment- or the death penalty.

[Amor de Cosmos]

So he'd serve time in protective custody of some type?

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Given the witness testimonies and that of the medical experts, his defence team are going to have to be spectacularly good.

I admire your optimism. I hope you're right but i don't share your faith in the uk criminal justice system.

The substance of the case will come down to "did the cop feel in fear of his life while he was murdering dalian atkinson" and if the judge's summing up doesn't largely disregard the actual facts of the case and focus on the white cop's terror of the black man having a psychotic episode i will eat my judicial wig.

[Antepli Ejderha]

In prison?

I agree with BLT, I'll be surprised if he gets a custodial sentence.

[jwdd27]

He (the cop) was in a relationship with his co-accused pig, who restricted herself to just battering the unconscious Atkinson with her baton while her bf egged her on. Reading the full summary of the case (in the Daily Mail, the only site I found covering it in any depth), you can see where the defence will go with this - the couple were extremely scared of Atkinson, she pressed the panic button which summons back up, and she relayed to the other cops how frightening the scene was - Atkinson was extremely manic and bloodstained (from ripping his dialysis line out).

They'll claim that the unconscious man was trying to get up when he was kicked and beaten. They'll claim the Taser was faulty or that male pig was frozen in panic and couldn't let go of the trigger, resetting the override six times.

Their medical experts will try and claim that Atkinson was already close to death and that it might not be his treatment that night that killed him. A key witness (Atkinson's father) has since died, and other witnesses were far away and it was dark.

I hope to be wrong, but I can see acquittals, unless there's some more damning evidence where the two accused have discussed the case, especially as their relationship is now apparently over.