Pc who struck footballer after he was Tasered keeps her job
A POLICE constable has kept her job despite being found guilty of gross misconduct for using “excessive force” when she repeatedly hit Dalian Atkinson, the former footballer, with her baton after he was Tasered.
A disciplinary panel found that Mary Ellen Bettley-smith, a West Mercia Police officer, acted wrongly when she struck Atkinson during an incident in the early hours of Aug 15 2016. Mr Atkinson went into cardiac arrest and died later that day.
His sister, Elaine, said after the decision: “I suppose they look out for their own”, adding that she did not think Ms Bettley-smith should be protecting the public.
Atkinson, a former Aston Villa striker, who helped the side win the 1994 League Cup final, died after being kicked at least twice in the head by Ms Bettley-smith’s more experienced colleague, Pc Benjamin Monk, outside the victim’s father’s home in
Telford, Shropshire.
“At the end of the day, Dalian’s gone and it’s down to those officers”, Ms Atkinson said.
The panel could have sacked 33-yearold Ms Bettley-smith, a University of Hull graduate originally from Staffordshire, but instead handed her a final written warning.
After Mr Atkinson was Tasered to the ground and kicked in the head by Monk, Ms Bettley-smith used her baton on him, claiming she “perceived” he was trying to get up, although several civilian witnesses recalled the 48-year-old “was not moving” and “was not resistant”.
Monk was jailed for eight years in 2021 after his conviction at Birmingham Crown Court for manslaughter.
Ms Bettley-smith – known as Ellie – was cleared of assaulting Atkinson after a trial, but the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found there was a gross misconduct disciplinary case to answer for her use of force.
While the panel found three initial strikes – before Monk’s kicks – were “lawful”, it concluded Ms Bettleysmith’s decision to then hit Mr Atkinson another three times, after police backup arrived, were “unnecessary, disproportionate and unreasonable in all the circumstances and therefore unlawful”.