The policeman accused of the murder of ex-footballer Dalian Atkinson told a court he was “terrified” of dying during the meeting.
Benjamin Monk is accused of using illegal and unreasonable force when he fired a Taser at the former Aston Villa star for 33 seconds before kicking him in the head.
Monk, a police officer with West Mercia Police, has denied the murder and manslaughter and first testified at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday.
A jury learned how Monk deployed three Taser cartridges before Mr Atkinson was handcuffed near his father’s home at Meadow Close in Telford, Shropshire in the early hours of August 15, 2016. The former footballer has died more late in the hospital.
Dalian Atkinson has played for several clubs including Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. Image: Action images
Monk told the jury he felt “a great relief” when Mr Atkinson was floored after receiving a taser for the third time.
He added that the first two Taser strikes had been ineffective.
Monk claims Mr. Atkinson told him, during the meeting that “you can pass me 100,000 volts I’m the f ****** messiah – your Taser won’t work and now I’m going to take you to the gates from hell”.
When asked how he felt after the failed second Taser strike, the then 14-year-old officer said: “I remember thinking, ‘we’re screwed.’
Asked by his lawyer Patrick Gibbs QC what he did next, Monk replied: “I ran for my life – we ran away.”
He told jurors it was something he had never done in his entire career.
The 43-year-old said: “He (Mr. Atkinson) was very, very scary.
“And the device that I thought could work for me hadn’t worked and I was terrified.”
Monk and his junior PC colleague Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who he was dating at the time, had wandered away from Mr Atkinson in the residential area while awaiting the arrival of other officers.
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-02 16:50:00
