Former Aston Villa striker Dalian Atkinson was repeatedly kicked and tasered by police before his death despite apparently being subdued, an eyewitness has claimed.
Atkinson was pronounced dead at approximately 3am on Monday morning after an altercation outside his family home in Meadow Close, Trench, at around 1.30am.
Don't feel to gud at the moment , Dalian Atkinson was a huge part of the Villa family I played with lovely kid and friend R.I.P pal Xx.
— Paul McGrath (@Paulmcgrath5) August 15, 2016
The full details of the incident are still emerging, although the know that the case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. And if the claims of this eyewitness are true, they are very damning indeed.
“He was staggering, and as he staggered towards them they opened fire with the taser and he fell to the ground like a lead balloon,” Paula Quinn, who lives opposite the Atkinson home, told BuzzFeed.
“I could actually hear him hit the ground and as he hit the ground the two officers just piled in on him and started kicking ten bells out of him.
“That probably went on for a minute or two, it seemed quite long at the time, everything appeared to be happening in slow motion.”
Quinn then went on to say that one of the officers told the other to “back off” before they ordered Atkinson to put his hands behind his back, although Quinn says the 48-year-old did not appear to be conscious at that stage.
“They reactivated the Taser about four or five times on him while he was on the ground,” Quinn continued. “I could see it very clearly, there was absolutely no threat to him whatsoever and I am absolutely shocked.
“I don’t know if he was perhaps inebriated or something but he certainly wasn’t threatening. IÂ can still hear the boots kicking him, I can still hear it. It makes me feel quite sick.”
The IPCC reiterated their earlier statement, which said:
“The IPCC is conducting a full and thorough investigation into all of the circumstances surrounding his death including the use of force.”
