Police officer faces sack for using excessive force against Dalian Atkinson

Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith of West Mercia police found guilty of gross misconduct by disciplinary panel

A police constable is facing the sack after being found guilty by a disciplinary panel of gross misconduct for using excessive force when she repeatedly hit an ex-footballer with her baton after he was Tasered to the ground.

An independent tribunal on Friday found that Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, a West Mercia police officer, acted wrongly when she struck Dalian Atkinson three times with her police-issue baton during an incident in the early hours of 15 August 2016, after which Atkinson later died.