British officer keeps job despite 'gross misconduct' in soccer star's clubbing

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A British police officer was allowed to keep her job Friday after a disciplinary panel found her guilty of gross misconduct for unlawfully clubbing former professional soccer player Dalian Atkinson, who died after another officer used a stun gun and kicked him in the head.

An independent police disciplinary tribunal gave constable Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith a written warning after finding she unlawfully struck the Black former Aston Villa striker three times with her baton after he was subdued by her partner during an altercation in August 2016.

The West Mercia officer could have been stripped of her badge by the panel that was convened in Telford after she was acquitted at a criminal trial of causing bodily harm.

POLICE OFFICER GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER IN SOCCER STAR'S DEATH

Bettley-Smith's conduct was "indeed serious" but she was on the periphery of the event and her partner's role was "several stages of magnitude different," prosecutor Dijen Basu said at the hearing.

Constable Benjamin Monk was sentenced in 2021 to eight years in prison for manslaughter in the killing of Atkinson.

Monk claimed self-defense and said he feared for his life after Atkinson made threats and smashed a glass door pane.

Monk used a Taser on Atkinson for 33 seconds — more than six times longer than was standard — and kicked him at least twice in the head, leaving bootlace marks on his forehead.

Police had been called to the Telford home of Atkinson's father in central England after neighbors reported disturbances.

British police officer Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith was permitted to keep her job Friday after being issued a written warning for her role in a fatal