Former footballer Dalian Atkinson has died after being shot with a Taser by police in Shropshire.
West Mercia Police said officers responded to a report of concern for the safety of a man at about 01:30 BST in the Trench area of Telford.
A Taser was used on the 48-year-old man and after receiving medical help, he was pronounced dead at about 03:00.
During a 16-year career, the striker played for Aston Villa, Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday.
Dalian Atkinson is best remembered for scoring the Match of the Day goal of the season in the 1992-93 campaign – the inaugural Premier League season. Memorably, the Villa star dribbled the ball from inside his own half before chipping the Wimbledon keeper from the edge of the area.
Paramedics said Dalian Atkinson went into cardiac arrest on his way to hospital. The death – which took place at the home of Mr Atkinson’s father – has been referred to the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Telford resident Paula Quinn, who lives in a first-floor flat nearby, told the Shropshire Star she had witnessed the Taser being fired after hearing shouting.
“I stuck my head out the window to look out and I saw two police officers shouting at the gentleman and he sort of was stumbling towards them and the police officers warned him they would Taser him, but he just seemed a bit, perhaps, inebriated.
“And because he continued to step forward once or twice – non-threatening – they deployed the Taser,” she said.
“As the Taser hit him in the stomach he just went ‘doof’, down like a lead balloon.