The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[grumbler]

So the cop chased her down purely to assault her.  He wasn't interested in arrest, just assault.

It has to be the cop culture that turns these guys into thugs.  There are more thugs on any force than can be explained by even self-selection.

[Sheilbh]

This story is awful and the details are really horrific:

Dalian Atkinson's head was kicked like a football by police officer, murder trial told
PC Benjamin Monk also alleged to have used Taser weapon on former Aston Villa player for six times longer than guideline limit
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Tue 4 May 2021 18.55 BST

An update on this - one of the officers has been cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter (the first manslaughter conviction of a police officer in the course of their duties for 30 years). The jury are still deliberating on the other officer so the strict reporting rules still apply to this article:

Police officer guilty of manslaughter of ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson
PC Benjamin Monk of West Mercia force convicted at Birmingham crown court of 2016 killing
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Wed 23 Jun 2021 12.47 BST
First published on Wed 23 Jun 2021 11.48 BST

A police officer has been convicted of the manslaughter of the former professional footballer Dalian Atkinson, after firing an electric stun gun into him for 33 seconds and kicking him twice in the head as he lay on the ground.

PC Benjamin Monk, of the West Mercia force, was convicted of the killing by a jury at Birmingham crown court.

Monk was accused of lying in court about his account, and of kicking and stamping on Atkinson's head while he was barely conscious on the ground. He is the first police officer to be convicted of manslaughter during the course of their duties in more than three decades.

Atkinson was kicked with such force his blood was found in the laces of Monk's police issue boots.

The jury reached its verdicts on Monk after 18 hours and 48 minutes of deliberation. They first acquitted him of murder, but then unanimously convicted him of manslaughter.

They are continuing to consider their verdicts on his co-accused, PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who denies actual bodily harm for striking Atkinson with a baton while he was on the ground.

Details of the unlawful violence the jury found Monk had used were only made public at trial almost five years after Atkinson's death.

Atkinson, from Telford, Shropshire, was pronounced dead 70 minutes after the incident on 15 August 2016.

He had gone to his childhood home in Meadow Close, which he had bought with the money he made from being a professional footballer, for his father Ernest. Shortly after 1.30am, a neighbour called the police because Atkinson, 48, was causing a disturbance.

Atkinson achieved fame as a striker for Aston Villa, and also played clubs in England, Spain and Turkey. He retired from football in 2001.

[Berkut]

Not be pendantic about what is clearly something horrific, but this is the second time I've seen this called out in a story about this incident:

"Atkinson was kicked with such force his blood was found in the laces of Monk's police issue boots."

How is there being blood on his laces evidence of any particular force? I mean, if he is bleeding, it does not require any force at all to get the blood on something else - just contact...right?

And if you kick someone in the head hard enough to cause them to bleed, wouldn't there be blood pretty much all over the place?

[grumbler]

Not be pendantic about what is clearly something horrific, but this is the second time I've seen this called out in a story about this incident:

"Atkinson was kicked with such force his blood was found in the laces of Monk's police issue boots."

How is there being blood on his laces evidence of any particular force? I mean, if he is bleeding, it does not require any force at all to get the blood on something else - just contact...right?

And if you kick someone in the head hard enough to cause them to bleed, wouldn't there be blood pretty much all over the place?

One presumes that this is being mentioned because it was part of the prosecution's case (else how would the reporter know) and that therefor the issue of where blood appeared on PC Monk's boots was significant.  It could be just a random observation by the reporter, but I doubt it.

[garbon]

22.5 years!

[Admiral Yi]

Chauvin!

[Admiral Yi]

Sentence!

[DGuller]

Word!

[grumbler]

Vague!

[jimmy olsen]

They're always saying "What if there was a good guy with a gun?" Well...

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1408628603626176517

The chief said that the bystander's actions saved lives and that what he did "can only be described as decisive, courageous and effective."

...
Bystander Who Intervened in Shooting of Officer Was Fatally Shot by Police

The police in Arvada, Colo., said a good Samaritan who fatally shot a gunman who had just killed a police officer was himself shot by responding officers.

[Jacob]

22.5 years!

More than expected, that's for sure.

[Sheilbh]

Eight years in the Dalian Atkinson case - the other officer was not convicted:

Police officer who killed Dalian Atkinson jailed for eight years
PC Benjamin Monk convicted last week of manslaughter of ex-footballer after kicking his head while he lay on the ground


Benjamin Monk. A jury found his use of a stun gun for 33 seconds and at least two kicks to Dalian Atkinson's head killed him. Photograph: Jacob King/PA
Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Tue 29 Jun 2021 15.04 BST

The police officer who killed the former footballer Dalian Atkinson, kicking him in the head while he was down on the ground, has been jailed for eight years.

PC Benjamin Monk was convicted last week of manslaughter after a jury found his use of a stun gun for 33 seconds and at least two kicks to Atkinson's head killed him.

Monk, 43, was sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Melbourne Inman QC at Birmingham crown court.

Monk, who serves with the West Mercia force, is the first British police officer in more than three decades to be convicted of manslaughter during the course of his duties.

His conviction came after he set upon Atkinson on 15 August 2016. Police were called to a disturbance with Atkinson acting in an erratic and out of character fashion having gone to Meadow Close, Telford, where his father lived.

The late-night incident involving police officers and Atkinson, 48, lasted six minutes.

The judge said he accepted that the officer was dealing with a difficult situation that evening with Atkinson in a "form of psychotic state" and being threatening.

Inman said: "For five minutes you were dealing with a very unpredictable and no doubt frightening situation where you were confronted by a man who had to be restrained and controlled because of the level of threat he posed ... It was thereafter, when Mr Atkinson was on the floor that you used force that went beyond that which was reasonable in the circumstances."

Atkinson had shouted he was the "Messiah", smashed glass in a door and the judge said Monk had tried to calm him down.

The judge accepted Monk's genuine remorse and that the excessive violence he used was out of character, with senior colleagues praising his work as an officer.

Atkinson was kicked with such force that his blood was found in the laces of Monk's police-issue boots, and imprints from them found on the forehead of the former Aston Villa striker.

One witness said when Atkinson was kicked while on the ground he head snapped back.

Monk was seen with his boot rested on Atkinson's head. Atkinson by then was barely conscious and would be pronounced dead within 70 minutes.

The judge said Monk's time in prison would be more difficult because he was a police officer, but his job also was an aggravating factor.

Inman said: "The public entrust powers to the police which they expect to be used for the common good of society.

"The sentence must reflect the importance of maintaining public confidence in our police. You have let yourself and the force down. Although they were difficult, you failed to act appropriately in the circumstances as they developed and you used a degree of force in delivering two kicks to the head which was excessive and which were a cause of Mr Atkinson's death."

After his conviction, Monk is expected to face a fasttrack disciplinary hearing and be sacked from the police, which he joined in 2002.

The judge told Monk he would be eligible for release after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Edit: Statement from Atkinson's family:

PC Monk used horrendous violence against Dalian, who was in an extremely vulnerable position in mental health crisis and needed help.

This was a callous attack and a terrible abuse of a police officer's position of trust.

We pay tribute to all bereaved families of black men who've died at the hands of the police and whose fight for justice has not led to successful prosecutions.

It shouldn't take death of a famous footballer for the criminal justice system to work properly.

Edit: And sentencing remarks which has more details for people who are interested:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/R-v-Monk-Sentencing-Remarks-Amended.pdf

[mongers]

Massachusetts armed group arrested after stand-off with police

Yeah, progress.

edit:
Oh I wonder if skin colour had anything to do with the decision?

[grumbler]

A police encounter with armed citizens that ended with no shots fired.  Take notes, other police forces.

[Razgovory]

I have noticed that police are more hesitant to go in guns blazing when they are outnumbered and outgunned.