SOCCER STAR ‘TASERED FIVE TIMES’
A FORMER football star ‘dropped like a lead balloon’ and died after being Tasered five times by police outside his father’s home yesterday.
Witnesses said Dalian Atkinson, 48, seemed drunk and stumbled toward the two officers.
They had been called to a report of a person in distress at the address.
The witnesses accused police of being ‘trigger happy’ and claimed officers waited up to 20 minutes to call an ambulance.
One said they appeared to kick Atkinson on the ground.
Another said Atkinson – a regular visitor to the property but understood to be living with a friend – screamed that he was homeless and appeared to be trying to kick his father’s front door down.
The former Aston Villa striker went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance. He was pronounced dead in hospital 90 minutes later. His father Ernest confirmed Atkinson appeared to have been on drink or on drugs.
Relatives and friends said he had been plagued by health problems and was having dialysis for a kidney complaint they said may have weakened his heart. One speculated whether alcohol may have reacted with medication he had been taking after leaving hospital.
The former footballer was said to have been due at a private hospital in Manchester today for an appointment.
The high-profile case is the latest death or non-fatal cardiac arrest triggered by police use of Tasers. Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, called for an urgent review of their use.
Yesterday, Atkinson’s 12-yearold Porsche Cayenne remained parked outside his father’s property, whose porch window had been smashed. Fans left football shirts in tribute.
Paula Quinn, 44, said she looked outside after hearing the Porsche’s alarm go off. ‘Dalian was walking toward the police, not aggressively, but he appeared drunk or something,’ she said.
‘The police officer shouted about deploying the Taser ... and then he just dropped like a lead balloon.
‘Afterwards the two police officers starting kicking him around his body. I heard the Taser go off again a number of times, at least four or five, when he was on the ground.’
Another resident said the officers could ‘easily have restrained’ Atkinson outside the house in the Trench area of Telford. The man added: ‘Dalian was stumbling around in the street, clearly a bit worse for wear, but he never attacked or ran at the officers. He was not listening to their orders but he certainly posed no threat.’
Atkinson’s nephew, Fabian, 32, from Telford, said: ‘He had some health issues that he was trying to get through and that’s why his heart was weak.’
Atkinson’s father, an 85-yearold deacon, said his son was ‘threatening and very upset’ during the confrontation at around 1am. ‘I don’t know if he was drunk or on drugs but he was very agitated and his mind was upset,’ he said.
Atkinson’s mother, Ambrozine, died in 1999 at the age of 62. A friend of the former striker, who did not want to be named, said he had come out of hospital last week following an extended stay.
Lawyer Sophie Khan, who has successfully fought a negligence claim against Merseyside Police on behalf of James McCarthy, who suffered a nonfatal cardiac arrest after being Tasered, yesterday said police should be trained to fire at the limbs instead of the chest.
West Mercia Police said the incident had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Atkinson also played for Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town, Manchester City, Fenerbache and Real Sociedad. He scored in Villa’s 1995 league cup final victory over Manchester United.
His former manager Ron Atkinson said: ‘It’s tragic.’
‘He was very agitated’