Dalian Atkinson killed in police taser shooting

The former top flight footballer Dalian Atkinson died after being repeatedly tasered by police in the early hours of Monday morning.

After being alerted by what seems to be a serious domestic incident at his father’s home, police deployed a taser against Atkinson. 90 minutes after being hit, despite medics trying to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Many will have deep concerns that this potentially lethal force was used despite Atkinson not having a gun, knife or any other dangerous instrument. The official rules of engagement have always been that tasers should be used in self defence.

Furthermore, according to the accounts of a family member Atkinson was having both mental and physical health issues. Both issues ought to have alerted the medical professionals as well as the police. That procedure might have produced a different outcome to the tragedy that unfolded.

The use of taser has dramatically increased over the years with nearly 10% of all officers now trained to use them. Worse still Black people are three times more likely to be tasered than white people.

Campaigners such as Matilda MacAttram has called for an outright ban on the routine use of Tasers arguing:

Violence is being used against the most vulnerable in our society when they are in need of help.

The use of a Taser is never acceptable when dealing with somebody who is known to have or suspected to have a mental health condition. There has been a 10-year routine human rights abuse where the default is tasers against the vulnerable on the streets or in hospitals."

The Prime Minister Theresa May has often sided with Macttram stating, when she was Home Secretary that:

Tasers are sometimes regarded as a safe option compared to the use of physical restraint, but there is accumulating evidence that that is not the case. There are very serious risks.”

Simon Woolley