Police Officer Guilty of Misconduct for Using Excessive Force on Tasered Footballer
A police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after using excessive force when a former soccer player was repeatedly beaten with a baton after being tased to the ground.
An independent court found Mary Ellen Betley Smith, a West Mercia police officer, unfair in her conduct in the beating. Dalian Atkinson The former sportsman died in the early hours of August 15, 2016 after being beaten three times with police-issued batons.
former Aston Villa Striker Atkinson died after being kicked in the head at least twice by Betley Smith’s more experienced colleague, PC Benjamin Monk, outside the victim’s father’s home. Telford, Shropshiresix and a half years ago.
Former Aston Villa striker Darien Atkinson died in 2016
(PA Archive)
After Mr. Atkinson was tased to the ground and Mr. Monk kicked him in the head, Mr. Betleysmith claimed to have “detected” him trying to get up using his baton, but several civilians were killed. eyewitnesses recalled the 48-year-old man “did not move” and “did not resist.”
Monk will serve eight years in prison in 2021 after being found guilty of manslaughter at the Birmingham Criminal Court.
Ms Bettley-Smith, known as Ellie, escaped assault on Mr Atkinson after the trial. Independent Police Action Service (IOPC) found that there was a serious misconduct disciplinary case in response to her use of force.
Monk’s first three strikes before kicking were legal, but her decision to hit Mr. Atkinson three more times after police backup arrived was “unnecessary, disproportionate and disproportionate in all circumstances.” reasonable and therefore illegal,” the panel decided. .
Pc Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith is now facing a sack
(PA wire)
Communicating with the Misconduct Tribunal’s findings, legally qualified Commissioner Karimla Khan said, “In such circumstances, the Panel determined that the first three baton strikes were lawful.
“Then there was a kick in between by Pc (Ben) Monk, at which point Pc Bettley-Smith applied a second set of three baton attacks. Second set.
“And the committee decided that the second set of three baton strikes was unnecessary, disproportionate, unreasonable and therefore illegal in all circumstances.
PC Benjamin Monk was jailed for eight years for manslaughter
(Joe Giddens/PA)
Following the panel’s findings, Dijen Basu KC, the trial attorney who filed the suit against Pc Bettley-Smith, said: of an officer.
“She was clearly on the fringes of what Pc Monk did. It was quite different, several orders of magnitude different.”
He added:
Pc Bettley-Smith’s deputy Patrick Gibbs KC said, “Six and a half years… must be a serious punishment in itself, and a long time to reflect on what happened that night.” Wax.”
He said that the actions of Pc Bettley-Smith, a Hull University graduate originally from Staffordshire, were “up to that moment admirable and certainly irreproachable actions” and that her illegal baton attack was 27 Said it happened in seconds. , after which she again showed “admirable behavior”.
“This includes a momentary miscalculation of the degree of force that still needs to be used,” he added.
The commission is now set to hear evidence on whether the 33-year-old, who was a probation officer at the time, should be allowed to continue working or face lesser sanctions. I’m here.
