UK police officer convicted of manslaughter of Dalian Atkinson

The jury unanimously found Benjamin Monk guilty of the manslaughter of the former footballer in August 2016.

A British police officer has been found guilty of the manslaughter of former Premier League star Dalian Atkinson, in a verdict labelled “historic” by campaigners. A six-week trial in Birmingham was told Benjamin Monk fired a Taser three times – including a single 33-second discharge, more than six times the standard five-second duration – into Atkinson and kicked him twice in the head as he lay on the ground during the incident on August 15, 2016. Jurors took nearly 19 hours to reach the unanimous verdict on Wednesday on Monk, whom prosecutors said had exaggerated the threat posed by Atkinson and lied about the events to justify excessive and unlawful force.