Constitutionalist blames police for fatal shootout (shooting in Massillon, Ohio)

The Canton Repository (Ohio) ^ | August 13, 2002 | ED BALINT

[ResistorSister]

CANTON — Dwight Class said it didn’t have to end this way for Donald Matthews and the Massillon police officer whom he shot and killed.

Class said Patrol Officer Eric Taylor and the other officers and state trooper who were part of a fatal police chase Friday night did not have the authority to pull Matthews over on a traffic stop.

Or to pursue and attempt to arrest him.

Class attends the meetings on constitutionality that Matthews used to lead before he died in the shootout with police that started with a traffic stop on Route 21 in Doylestown and ended at First Street NW and Cherry Road in Massillon.

Matthews was president of the National Constitutionalist Academy and studied the U.S. Constitution. He held weekly meetings at the Denny’s Restaurant on Tuscarawas Street W in Perry Township. About 15 to 22 people usually attend, Class said. He said Matthews also held weekly meetings in Cleveland.

STRONG BELIEFS. Dwight Class and his wife, Sárra,
stand outside Reed Funeral Home after attending
calling hours for Donald Matthews of Jackson
Township on Monday afternoon. Police shot and
killed Matthews after he led police on a chase and shot and
killed Massillon Police Officer Eric Taylor on Friday
night. Class said the shootout wouldn’t have occurred
if the state trooper who pulled Matthews over on a
traffic stop had shown proof that he had an oath of
office and a bond. Repository / Michael S. Balash

Class attended calling hours for Matthews at Reed Funeral Home on Monday. Visitation was held from 3 to 5 and 6 to 9 p.m.

The first session appeared to be sparsely attended. Roughly 12 to 20 vehicles were parked in the funeral home lot. Visitors trickled in during the two hours. Family members and friends occasionally gathered in the parking lot or near the entrance of the funeral home.

Class spoke strongly about the events that unfolded Friday when a state trooper pulled Matthews over for driving 12 mph over the speed limit.

If the trooper could have produced proof that he had taken an oath of office and had a bond, “it would have been a nice, simple conversation (and Matthews would have said,) ‘I recognize you as an officer now.’ ”

That would have prevented the gunshots, Class said.

“I don’t think it had to have happened at all,” the Canton resident said, citing constitutional issues.

However, his wife, Sárra Class, said Taylor “should have been shot.”

Dwight Class disagreed and told his wife to stop making the comment.

“I thought he was a good man,” he said of Matthews. “He tried to get things done; he tried to get them done peacefully. That’s what he taught in class.”

Matthews taught other constitutionalists “to get the ‘paper trail started’ ” by filing cases in court, Class said.

Class said he has filed lawsuits over traffic violations involving himself and Rodney Class. One of the cases involves New Philadelphia police, he said.

Dwight Class also said he’s filed a lawsuit in federal court in Akron over alleged civil rights violations.

He said he’s planning to take legal action this week against Massillon Municipal Judge Edward J. Elum in the Ohio Supreme Court. That complaint involves a warrant issued against Class — he said he doesn’t know what for.

Dwight Class, 51, said he retired after working 30 years at the Timken Co.

He gave a reporter a “notice” of “civil rights violations by Ohio police and (the Ohio Highway Patrol).”

“Ohio is a home-rule state,” it says. “Chances are that if the brothers and sisters are stopped by any local police, they do not have an oath of office or bond to hold a position as a civil servant.”

Without the oath or bond, an officer doesn’t have the power to arrest a citizen, Class says.

Standing outside the funeral home, he said, “We don’t have a police force in the state of Ohio; we have private, at-will employees.”

A bumper sticker on a pickup truck at the calling hours carried the slogan: “I love my country but I fear my elected officials.”

Class said he expects Friday’s incident to boost attendance at the National Constitutionalist Academy meetings.

But not everyone who attended the calling hours shared Class’s point of view.

John Newlund, 49, of East Liverpool, said Matthews was his wife’s brother-in-law.

“He gave me a card one time,” Newlund said of the academy, “and I just blew it off. I believe you should pay your taxes.”

Newlund said he would “absolutely” pull over for a traffic stop.

“He should have stopped,” he said of Matthews. “It was only a speeding ticket — it happens thousands of times a day.

“You go by the law, the law of the land.”

You can reach Repository writer Ed Balint at (330) 580-8315 or e-mail:

ed.balint@cantonrep.com

[wimpycat]

Yeah, I've heard those Royal Navy press gangs are pretty brutal, too. Those damn British!

[Copernicus]

Yet another "Nutcase" to worry about. Where do they find them?

I've watched this story unfold over the past few days on Free Republic and tried, to the best of my ability, to understand the various comments on various threads about these tragic events.

Two observations, for what they are worth:

Everything about this story has been driven by a handful of print media reports. In truth and by every standard of objective inquiry no one here on Free Republic or even in Ohio KNOWS what occurred that night. The people who participated in the event do not completely KNOW what happened that night. The undignified exchanges between various individuals on this topic have done NOTHING to bring any insight to a necessary debate. I see very little separation between the irrationality of the events in Ohio and the discussion of those events on this forum.

A second observation: Be very careful for what you wish -it may be granted. Random, summary ad homeniem dismissals of events from afar have a funny way of bouncing back to people who generate them. YOU are a member of group of people who are widely known as "Freepers". Freepers have a mixed reputation around the country and around the world. At some point the muddlestream press may take it into their heads to engage an all out assualt upon the group of people known as "Freepers". At such time every action and every advantage may be used to denigrate and embarrass and destroy this group known as "Freeper". Think carefully, many Freepers who post to this forum are not exactly photogenic. They do not always use the best language and their thoughts are not always completely coherent. Nevertheless, they are accepted as part of this forum and they can be used to destroy it if necessary.

For what it is worth.

Best regards,

[Crowcreek]

It's pretty easy for any one to jump in on the side of the cops, or the citizen, without knowin what actually happened out there.

I don't have to take a position on either side to say that this situation should have been handled differently, two men are dead for no good reason.

Weapon confrontations will cost the lives of good officers, as well as the lives of no-good, toothless middle-aged white men who drive ten year-old Fords.

So these groups are 'square pegs'. So what? -- Don't tell me there's no other solution.

Besides, I haven't forgotten the 20 year-old Eagle Scout who was shot in the face with a rifle, on his way back home with his girlfriend.

[general_re]

[Crowcreek]

". Matthews, in the Texan vernacular, needed killin'.

Maybe so, cowboy. The problem, for these officers, is that he did some 'killin back' ....

[Larry Lucido]

Geez, didn't mean to strike a nerve.

Hardly to be equated with the WTC bombing. Stop reaching.

Just contrasting "Never forget" with "Let it go."

Okay, here is a better analogy. Thug murders officer Daniel Faulker. Thug's fans rally to thug's defense. Officer Faulkner's family and supporters are under no obligation to let anything "go."

[Larry Lucido]

Get pulled over by their JBTs, they press you into the Royal Navy.

They do that in Detroit, too. I'd still like to know how they got the HMS Invincible down the St. Lawrence Seaway.

[glory]

What really sticks with me is the "paper trail" thing. Makes one wonder if they(including Matthews) weren't defying highway laws just to get pulled over to make cases. I hope Matthews felt his priniciples were worth his life. He had no right to take Taylor's life while standing on those principles however.

[ResistorSister]

I don't know where they find them...but they seem to gravitate towards each other.

[john in missouri]

These people ought to have to sit down with the dead police officer's children and explain to them just why it was "worth" killing their Daddy over the matter of a speeding ticket.

[glory]

I think wimpy's right on. They have thier anger misdirected. IMO, if they were genuine they would see Taylor as a victim of our Constitutional lack of knowledge in this country, they would not be pegging him as some kind of foot soldier deliberately trying to subvert Matthews constitutional rights(and I admit I have no idea what those prinicples are myself so this is not said to support his positions(Matthews) in any way or say they were right). The fact that they'd justify the death of a police officer who probably had average or less than average understanding of what Matthews *apparently* was standing for is like kicking a person when they are down. All that police officer saw was the same as what they see when a drug gang thug takes off when pulled over. And they are right not to discriminate between the two. Obviously thier lives depend on it.

[wimpycat]

What piece of the puzzle are you waiting on before you admit that this guy Matthews killed a cop? That several members of his group believe that the traffic stop was unconstitutional? That at least one member of his group (Sarra Class) stated to a reporter that the cop deserved to be shot? What more information do you need? Hmmmm?

[AppyPappy]

You can fake videotape just like they did with the moon landing.

[habs4ever]

Don't you go demonizing toothless trailer trash!!

These genuises' read a few pamphlets from Palladin Press and think they become Consitutional scholars.There is nothing conservative about these kooks.They are radicals as dangerous as the Weathermen.

[Kevin Curry]

Check this out:

"No oath no Authority. The Breaking of the oath is a Capital offense as the party doing so has violated the God given rights of 275 million Americans.

National Constitutionalist Academy
President
Don Matthews"