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]

Did you get the last part of Abundy's post, Mr. Pedant?

We are allowing indivdiuals to judge anyone who fulfills their responsibility, as an adult citizen of the United States, to question and supervise our elected officials and their policies by the actions of this deranged @sshole; merely because he espoused some views that sound like some of us, but didn't understand where he was wrong and that you don't friggin' shoot a police officer because he is trying to cite you for a traffic violation.

[Cultural Jihad]

Should mentally ill people just stand still and be a complacent victim?

This is the sort of uncommonsensical and flakey ideology which got Mr. Matthews into his early coffin. Normal people cannot fathom the mindset which declares that deranged people should be allowed to own and carry around (what? no limit here, either?) a handgun, a bazooka, a rocket launcher, a thermonuclear bomb. Ideology kills.

[exodus]

To: Shooter 2.5
I saw your link reporting that the County coroner had identified the bullet as the same caliber as Matthews' pistol. Thank you.
# 469 by exodus

To: exodus
Read the link again.

"Taylor died of a single gunshot from behind, and the bullet matched Matthews' imported gun, said Rick Walters, an investigator with the Stark County coroner's office."

The reporter is quoting an investigator, not the county coroner.

# 471 by tpaine
*************************

Thank you, tpaine.

That's a small, un-important detail that just might mean something.

[Jaidyn]

Amen! And thank you for your compassion of a fellow freeper who is in distress. I am a friend of a boy's (now a man)family who is on death row in Ohio. I am also friend's of the victim's family. I grieved over his death and certainly am not looking forward to his killer's execution but justice was served. That doesn't mean that I cannot talk about the good things the boy possessed. He was friendly, outgoing and good in sports, and had a great future ahead. Unfortunately, he was insanely jealous and the anger ate at him until he became a murderer of a former friend. I was just as in shock and bewilderment as Betty Boop. There are many people like her who have loved ones who kill. We can't deny our emotions and I plaud her for sharing her pain with us. I can't understand how so many can slap at someone who is down, especially fellow freepers. She didn't condone any of the actions of her friend, only questioned them, and tried to portray to us how she saw Mr. Matthews. There's nothing wrong with that.

[Abundy]

As an aside, watch the societies-for-the-preservation-of-the-mentally-ill's-rights (or whatever they are calling themselves) de-rail attempts to include in NCIC the truly deranged and dangerous...

It is a sticky issue, and I'm not sure how to balance the competing concerns, but watch law-abiding, sane gun owners take it up the you-know-what again because the doctor's will want to protect their patients and law abiding gun owners are truly the only un-protected class of people left in the US.

The gun control legislation that does pass will still be aimed at you and I - to the exclusion of criminals and the insane...

[Travis McGee]

Sure, and he could have shot a cop at a donut shop the day before. So what?

He picked a crappy caliber known for ONE thing: defeating kevlar. He reportedly told a range owner before the shooting he was going to kill the next cop who pulled him over, and he ran from that cop and killed one of the cops he caused to chase him by running.

There is a term for it: suicide by cop. Or in this case, murder-suicide by cop.

[exodus]

Third, the slain officer was shot from behind, indicating that he was surprised by the suspect and was taking cover when shot.
# 475 by Abundy

*************************

The official report said that Matthews showed the State trooper his weapon during the second stop, and then drove off again. The police knew he was armed before the firefight started, before Matthews left his car.

The official report also said that Mathews jumped out of his moving car, rolled, and came up shooting at the police cars that were still chasing his moving car.

I see very little chance that Taylor was surprised by Matthews.

The story doesn't fit the facts.

[tpaine]

Did you get the last part of Abundy's post, - ?
_________________________________
Of course I did.
Unlike you, I was also able to understand, and agree with, -- his overall point.
- I suggest you read the whole thing over again, bearing in mind that he was NOT supporting your particular stance.

[Travis McGee]

On other threads we linked sites that sell 7.62-.224 sabot slugs for the 7.62X25 which will produce about 2,200fps with a 55gr slug.

That's about what an M-16 produces at 300 yards I believe.

[Abundy]

The official report said that Matthews showed the State trooper his weapon during the second stop, and then drove off again. The police knew he was armed before the firefight started, before Matthews left his car.

The official report also said that Mathews jumped out of his moving car, rolled, and came up shooting at the police cars that were still chasing his moving car.

I see very little chance that Taylor was surprised by Matthews.

The story doesn't fit the facts.

___

With all due respect, the story doesn't fit the facts that you want to hear or the way you want to interpret them.

There is no disputing that the coroner determined that the officer was shot from behind as he was attempting to exit the passenger side of his vehicle.

This indicates surprise. Why?

Because we are taught in officer survival to position a cruiser on a traffic stop in order to provide cover and if the threat was coming from the driver's side, forcing the officer to exit the passenger side for cover, than the officer didn't have time to stop the cruiser properly or he did and the suspect moved quickly enough to take away the cover advantage of a properly positioned cruiser.

Either way, Matthews quickly created such an enormous tatical advantage on Taylor which forced Taylor to turn his back on Matthews rather than return fire.

That's called surprise.

It's also called premeditated murder. Period.

[exodus]

To: exodus
Second, it would appear that the officers, while superior in number, were facing superior firepower.
# 475 by Abundy

*************************

How were they outgunned?

Matthews had bullets that would penetrate police vests? Fine, Matthews wasn't wearing a vest. Points even, 0-0.

Matthews had bullets that penetrated, but didn't have much stopping power. The police had shells designed to knock people down. One point to the police, 0-1.

Matthews was rolling around beside his car, with no protection, while the police were barricaded behind their cars. One point to the police. 0-2.

Matthews had one pistol, the police had 6 pistols. Six points to the police. 0-8.

Matthews was both outgunned and outnumbered.

[tpaine]

The reporter is quoting an investigator, not the county coroner.
# 471 by tpaine
________________________________
Thank you, tpaine.
That's a small, un-important detail that just might mean something.
________________________________

Hopefully, we will soon find out, and stop all this uninformed speculation.
-- But don't hold your breath.

[Cultural Jihad]

Why bother with the endless speculation and nay-saying? You have already come out and declared your kinship with the murderous ideology which afflicted Mr. Matthews.

[Area51]

Per your 468....Very well written and IMHO to the point.

Thank you.

[Joe Hadenuf]

“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.”

Why can't our so called leaders and politicians understand this. We have millions upon millions of illegal aliens invading our nation, yet they stand silent.....

[Cultural Jihad]

Well, Joe, Mr. Matthews was kinda like one of those devilish illegal aliens in that he broke the law and flaunted his law-breaking. At least the average illegal alien has enough humanity in him to accept the consequences of his actions if he is caught.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I think you missed my point.....

[wimpycat]

My particular stance is that Matthews murdered a cop, and Abundy and I agree on that point. We also agree that supporting or justifying Matthews' actions does nothing to support the Constitution, and invites people to judge everyone who shared similar ideas by Matthews' actions. Abundy and I agree on that, too.

If people who consider themselves Constitutionalists would cut Matthews loose and accept the fact that he's a murderer, then they would gain more credibility and respect. Matthews was no Constitutionalist. Matthews was a nut, and anybody who sticks up for him by accusing the police of some sort of coverup, is also a nut--a frothy-mouthed, babble-talking NUT!

You have already stated to me that Matthews was unjustified in his actions...unless you just changed your mind since this afternoon.