A man reported to have died after being shot with a taser by police at his home in Telford has been named locally as former Aston Villa forward Dalian Atkinson.
The striker made 85 appearances for The Villans during his five-year stint at the club and also played for Ipswich and Manchester City.
Officers were called to the 49-year old’s home in the early hours of the morning after concerns were raised “for the safety of an individual”.
Atkinson was then taken to the Princess Royal hospital, where his condition deteriorated and suffered a cardiac arrest, and pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Accident and Emergency.
In a statement, the hospital said: “Despite the efforts of the crew and hospital staff, it was not possible to save him and he was confirmed dead at hospital, shortly after arrival.”
Atkinson was a Premier League striker with Aston Villa, were his wonder goal against Wimbledon was named match of the day’s goal of the season in 1992.
Players from up and down the country have paid tribute to the striker, with former teammate Paul Dikov leading the tributes.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Tragic news about my old teammate Dalian Atkinson passing away, thoughts & prayers to all 
#ripdalian
— Paul Dickov (@OfficialPDickov) August” class=”redactor-linkify-object”>https://twitter.com/OfficialPDickov/status/7651370… 15, 2016
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West Mercia Police released a statement this morning saying: “West Mercia Police can confirm that officers responded to a report for the concern for the safety of an individual at approximately 1:30am this morning (Monday 15 August) at an address in Telford.
Upon arrival Taser was deployed and a 48-year-old man, who subsequently received medical attention, was pronounced dead at approximately 3am.
West Mercia Police are unable to comment any further as the incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) as is normal procedure and will assist the IPCC with their enquiries.”
