Posted on 08/11/2002 3:23:16 AM PDT by ResistorSister
MASSILLON — A 61-year-old man in a straw hat led a state trooper and then city police on a chase that ended in a hail of gunfire when the man whipped out a high-powered Czechoslovakian military weapon and fired away Friday night.
Investigators are continuing to piece together what started out as a seemingly routine traffic stop for a speeding violation and ended 12.3 miles and 12 minutes later in a double shooting that left a police officer, Eric Taylor, and the suspect, Donald W. Matthews, dead.
On Saturday, authorities released more information to a stunned and grieving community.
Mayor Francis Cicchinelli Jr. called the episode “the most tragic incident in the history of our city.
“These kinds of incidents should not occur anywhere in our country, let alone in Massillon,” he said. “We’ve lost a hero, and he certainly will be missed.”
Police Chief Mark Weldon remembered when Taylor came looking for a job on the force.
“He seemed a little bit green,” Weldon said, noting that he told Taylor to come back in a couple of years.
“He did that, and we hired him. And I’ve never had reason to regret it until today,” the chief said, struggling to choke back tears.
Ohio Highway Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis and Maj. James Walker were joined by Weldon, Cicchinelli and City Safety Director Al Climer at a news conference at 8 a.m. Saturday.
They tried to answer questions from news media representing northeastern Ohio.
City police, area troopers and investigators from Columbus announced that they were trying to determine whether Matthews, whom friends described as a staunch constitutionalist, had ties to the Ohio Militia.
Friends described him as outspoken when it came to his views on the rights provided to citizens via the U.S. Constitution.
On Saturday, officials gave the following account of the shootout:
The traffic stop started out calmly enough Friday night.
Trooper Joseph Hershey, 25, of the Highway Patrol’s Wooster post, pulled over Matthews of 6688 Casper Ave. NW in Jackson Township for speeding. Matthews was doing 72 mph in a 60-mph zone in his wife’s 1992 Ford Taurus when he was stopped on Route 21 at Edwards Road near Doylestown.
Hershey, a member of the Highway Patrol since March 2001, knew something was wrong right away: Matthews wouldn’t surrender his driver’s license. Matthews only cracked the window open and held the license up to the glass. He muttered something about his constitutional rights being violated.
As Hershey walked back to his cruiser, Matthews sped away.
Hershey followed him, stopping him temporarily at Route 21 and Cherry Road NW in Massillon.
It became clear to the trooper that something was terribly amiss when he walked toward the car and noticed Matthews pulling a large gun from under the car seat.
Hershey backed away and returned to his cruiser.
Massillon police were called in on the chase. Five officers in four cars responded as Matthews drove away again.
Matthews only got a block farther before he pulled into the field at the corner of Cherry and First Street NW where The Arena is under construction. The lot, which used to be the Agathon ballfield, is across the street from the new Massillon Recreation Center.
As Matthews pulled onto the lot, he left the car in drive and bailed out of it, taking his Czechoslovakian CZ-762x25 semiautomatic military handgun with him and firing at police.
Hershey fired back. He wasn’t injured.
Taylor’s patrol car, too, had followed Matthews’ car into a ravine about 100 yards from the curb.
Taylor, who also fired back, was hit and dropped to the gravel. His bulletproof vest didn’t save him. Taylor later was pronounced dead at Massillon Community Hospital.
News of Taylor’s death rippled in whispers through the crowd that had gathered at the lot. Matthews’ body was not removed until several hours after the shootout. Eventually, police covered the body with a sheet and put up another sheet to hide it from onlookers.
More than 130 people lined the yellow crime scene tape strung up by police and troopers. Some onlookers wiped tears from their faces. A few hugged the handful of uniformed and plainclothes officers who arrived at the scene.
Walker, an operations commander for the Highway Patrol in Columbus, announced Saturday morning that all flags at Highway Patrol posts across the state will fly at half-staff in honor of Taylor.
You can reach Repository writer Lori Monsewicz at (330) 580-8309 or e-mail:
Massillon officer, suspect killed in chase, shootout
Massillon officer killed: Armed motorist also dies in shootout
Killer once led petition drive over gun rights,fought tax rules (Massillon, OH)
Anybody can get on here....but it doesn't make them a Freeper. The liberal media WILL try and 'make something' of the political views of this cop-killer, however.
You certainly seem to have the attitude of a freeper. Are you ?
They already are. From the first paragraph:
when the man whipped out a high-powered Czechoslovakian military weapon
Guess what the caliber of that high-powered weapon was? .32 caliber. The media is already taking this sad, utterly insane incident and pushing it as a lone gun nut story, the facts be damned...
Link to the "High-Powered" weapon.
http://www.makarov.com/cz52/
It is TRUELY sad when anyone is killed in the Line of Duty. However the Media does not have to distort the facts.
"Taylor, who also fired back, was hit and dropped to the gravel. His bulletproof vest didn’t save him."
His Bulletproof Vest didn't save him because he was either shot in the head or a vital area not covered by the Vest!
Thanks. I did not recognize his name, but the person who spoke of him was a recognizable poster; BettyBoop. That is a name that is pretty hard to miss.
I detest the liberal media as much as anyone, but in this case, the killer's political views are relevant. He was obviously an extremist and a nutjob, and because of his policital views he shot a police officer in the back.
Regrettably, there are haters of all stripes remaining. In addition to some truly nice people, it seems to me that there is always an undercurrent of hatred at work here.
Of course, but watch how it gets twisted with suggestions to conservative group ties.
That's something you made up. The stories never mention a .32.
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