Massillon Patrol Officer
Eric Taylor
Posted on 08/10/2002 6:07:37 AM PDT by ResistorSister
MASSILLON (OHIO) -- A city police officer and a man he was chasing are dead, killed in a shootout at the old Agathon ballfield Friday night.
Killed were Eric Taylor, 31, a four-year veteran of the Police Department, and a still unidentified suspect.
“This is a major tragedy for our city,” said Mayor Francis Cicchinelli, who announced Taylor’s death at Massillon Community Hospital at about 11:45 p.m.
Taylor was married, with three young children.
Investigators from the Ohio Highway Patrol, Massillon Police Department and Stark County coroner’s office remained at the scene past midnight, as did the body of the suspect, a balding, white man who was driving a four-door Ford sedan with Stark County license plates. His body was covered with one sheet, another blocked the view of the more than 100 bystanders who gathered near First Street and Cherry Road NW.
The trouble began shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Route 21 and Edwards Road in Wayne County near Doylestown, according to Lt. Herb Homan, commander of the Wooster Post of the Highway Patrol.
One of his troopers had stopped the southbound Ford on Route 21 at 8:22 p.m. for speeding. The trooper talked with the driver, there was a confrontation and five minutes later, the trooper reported the car was fleeing. He chased it south, and Massillon police got involved.
The chase ended in Massillon east of Route 21, in the ballfield just south of Cherry Road.
Lt. Gary Lewis of the Highway Patrol said the man got out of his car with a high-powered semiautomatic weapon, and that he fired first at officers. At least three Massillon officers and a trooper were involved in the gunfire. He said they don’t know which officer fired the shot that killed the suspect nor do they know which shot killed Taylor.
Scott McElfresh said he was watching television in his home on Cherry Road, northeast of the scene, when he heard shots. He looked out his window and saw flashes from gunfire.
He estimated he heard four shots and then an additional 30 to 40 shots, and that he saw flashes indicating police were returning fire.
“It’s not something you expect to happen in Massillon,” he said.
Other witnesses said they heard 10 to 12 shots.
“We didn’t know if it was fireworks or gunshots,” said Dave Hodgson, who was with friends about a block to the north.
Stark County Coroner James Pritchard said the suspect died of gunshot wounds, but he won’t know how many until he does an autopsy on the man today. He’ll also do an autopsy on Taylor.
Taylor was rushed from the scene to Massillon Community moments after the shooting.
The suspect’s body remained on the corner of a field off of First Street and Cherry Road until after midnight. Police said they had not verified the man’s identification, and they wouldn’t release his name until family was notified.
Through the early morning, Taylor’s cruiser and the suspect’s car remained in the middle of the field on which The Arena is being built.
The Highway Patrol and Massillon police are sharing the investigation.
They used 44 red cups to mark shell casings and other pieces of evidence on First Street. Bright lights illuminated the scene, showing the back window of a Massillon cruiser was shattered, and glass was scattered across the street.
A helicopter from Columbus was brought in to map the crime scene.
A handful of officers not involved in the investigation showed up at the scene, some in uniform and some in street clothes, somber and stone faced. Family of other officers showed up, patted a couple of officers on the back, shook their hands and hugged them.
A police chaplain met with the family at Massillon Community.
A red tent for officers was pitched in the yard of the Massillon Recreation Center, across the street from the crime scene.
Actualy a Park Ranger was recently shot by a smuggler on the Mexican border. For some reason this is not big news around here.
I've read your posts and agree, and appreciate that. I also appreciate your view of the problem of illegal immigration. The logical fallacy raised in your post is that no legitimate law enforcement may proceed while the problem of illegals continues.
There are 153 posts on that thread, and I read the article this morning. Apparently, it is new around here. My prayers for the Park Ranger too.
I was personally sickened by the freepers who tried to justify what happened. There was NO Constitutional basis for that action. I respect people who put their own lives at risk to challenge laws, such as the guy who strapped on a sidearm in Denver to challenge Colorado's laws about open carry. No one was hurt, the point was made, and now it's in the courts as a test case. But pretending that the Constitution does not allow the states to set their own speed limits, or enforce such, is bullsh** - pure and simple..
There wasn't, not a single post. The closest anyone had come to anything that could even be slightly construed as a possible "cop killing might be okay" message were the people that said they were sorry to see both the nut and the officer dead.
Another tasteless point. This has NOTHING, NOTHING,
But the traffic stops are revenue-enhancing...
Not anymore, at least.
A Makarov?
Bull. There were posts that clearly insinuated that the shooting may have been justified. And posts that agreed with the position of the guy who shot the cop, that there was no Constitutional authority for a traffic stop, when that is bullcrap.
Most of the time, I am proud to call myself a member of this forum. But the occasional day rolls around when some of the people on this site make me sick. This is one of those days...
The first thing that comes to my mind when I get pulled over is, "These poor cops have to deal with the dregs of society on a daily basis. Since I'm not a criminal, I better just cooperate with the cop and let him get on with more important business."
I have no sympathy for Don Matthews. There is a right way and wrong way to handle things. The cop wasn't trying to kill him. He was stopping him for speeding.
THE ONLY time shooting a cop is right is in self-defense. This was not self-defense. This was murder.
And never was, in the true sense of the word.
He'll also never pull a gun on a cop again.
I don't trust the press to know about weapons, or to care about accuracy.
And I still wanna know what transpired at the original stop.
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