UK officer guilty of misconduct for clubbing ex-soccer star
TELFORD, England (AP) — A British police officer has been allowed to keep her job after a disciplinary panel found her guilty of gross misconduct for clubbing former professional soccer player Dalian Atkinson. He died after another officer used a stun gun and kicked him in the head. A disciplinary panel on Friday said Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith unlawfully struck the Black former Aston Villa striker three times with her baton after he had been subdued during a 2016 altercation. Constable Benjamin Monk was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter in the killing of Atkinson. Bettley-Smith says she struck Atkinson because she thought he was getting up from the ground.
