What happened
Dalian Atkinson, 48, a former footballer, died in the early hours of 15 August 2016. His mental state had deteriorated suddenly that night and he had lapsed into what the judge called a form of psychotic state. He drove to his father’s home in Telford, saying he was the Messiah, took hold of his father by the throat and said he had killed other family members and intended to kill him. A neighbour rang 999.
The officer arrived at 1.36am and, the court heard, tried to calm him and retreated until he deployed his Taser, first showing it as a warning. The prosecution did not allege that the first two deployments were unlawful. The third came at 1.41am, five minutes after arrival, and the officer kept the Taser depressed for 33 seconds, when the court heard reasonable use is 5 to 10 seconds.
Atkinson went to the ground, and the officer kicked him twice in the head, in a position where his head must have been above the floor.
The outcome
The trial ran for seven weeks at Birmingham Crown Court from 26 April 2021. The jury convicted the officer of manslaughter on 23 June 2021, and he was sentenced to eight years on 29 June 2021. The jury could not agree on an actual bodily harm charge against the second officer, and a retrial was awaited.
The cause of death was cardiorespiratory arrest close in time to the Taser deployment, followed by brief restraint and blunt force trauma, in a man with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and end stage hypertensive nephropathy. The judge found the two kicks excessive and a cause of death, though not of serious injury, and said the force carried a high risk of really serious injury.
What went wrong
The prosecution did not allege that the first two deployments were unlawful. An officer may use force, and this one was entitled to restrain and control a man who was very aggressive. The failure sits in the two acts that followed.
At 33 seconds the Taser had stopped being an intervention: the man had collapsed, and the court’s measure of reasonable use is 5 to 10 seconds. Once he was on the ground and unable to resist, the officer kicked him in the head.
What it teaches
Each further application of force needs its own justification, and the clock is part of it. Ten seconds is not a formality: it is the measure the court used to separate the lawful from the unlawful.
A man on the ground who can no longer resist is a medical problem before he is anything else. The question changes from what he might do to what he now needs.
Questions for the room
- The first two deployments were not the offence. Where does the third stop being lawful, and who in your service knows that line?
- He is on the ground, no longer resisting. What is the next action, and what is it for?
Evidence and limits
Confidence: probable. The published sentencing remarks were read, and the sequence, timings and findings are taken from them. INQUEST’s release of 29 June 2021 agrees on the conviction and the eight-year sentence. The remarks carry no date; the date comes from the publication month and that release.
The second officer’s charge was unresolved, so this page says nothing about him.
The officer convicted of manslaughter is not named in the prose. His name is in the cited court record.
If your teams work with people in crisis, our physical interventions training covers the point where a person stops being a risk and becomes a patient.
Sources
- Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 29 June 2021, sentencing remarks, Birmingham Crown Court
- INQUEST, 29 June 2021, Dalian Atkinson: police officer sentenced for manslaughter
Reviewed 20 October 2026.