A 48-year-old man who died after being tasered by police in the early hours of Monday morning has been identified as former Aston Villa striker, Dalian Atkinson.
Atkinson was reportedly hit by a stun gun following an incident with police in Telford, and suffered a cardiac arrest shortly afterwards. After receiving medical treatment for approximately 90 minutes, Atkinson was pronounced dead at 3am.
Dalian Atkinson was the winner of the first ever Premier League Goal of the Season award for a sensational solo effort against Wimbledon in 1992/93. He also played for clubs including Sheffield Wednesday, Real Sociedad and Fenerbache.
#BlackLivesMatterUK issued a reminder that police don't need guns for lethal force.
The user of tasers – which are intended as a non-lethal weapon – rose by 2% in 2015 to 10,329 uses in 2015. Commentators have pointed to the frequency in which tasers are used on non-white people with recent figures revealing that black people are three times more likely to be tasered than white people.
R.I.P. Dalian Atkinson.
[via BBC News]
