Charges may be laid over footballer’s Taser death

TWO police officers could face charges in connection with the death of former professional footballer Dalian atkinson, who collapsed after being Tasered, it emerged last night.

Mr atkinson, pictured, ‘ went down like a lead balloon’, it was claimed, after he was struck by a 50,000-volt shock after threatening his elderly father on the doorstep of the pensioner’s home.

a witness claimed that officers discharged their stun guns twice more after Mr atkinson, 48, hit the pavement in Trench, Telford, in august 2016. The former aston Villa and Manchester City star died at the Shropshire town’s Princess Royal Hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest in the ambulance.

Yesterday the Independent office for Police Conduct said it had referred a file of evidence relating to Mr atkinson’s death to the Crown Prosecution Service for it to consider charges against two of the three officers who were involved in detaining him.

a West Mercia Police spokesman said the force was co- operating with the IOPC. Mr atkinson’s father Ernest declined to comment.