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

[justshutupandtakeit]

This was no "constitutionalist" but a flamming a$$hole. No true constitutionalist acts anything like this nutcase.

[exodus]

Abundy, is a "municipal corporation" another word for "city?"

[soccermom]

LOONEY TUNES!!! This is what seperates conservative republicans from losertarians and other 3rd party nuts -- THANK GOD!

[RabidBartender]

"Hardly anybody thinks about what the Constitution means anymore, and even less talk about it. Anyone who actually does talk about what the Constitution means, and what it requires, is labeled a "nutjob," just as you pointed out above. It's gotten so bad now that quoting the Constitution to a government official is strong evidence that you're a domestic "terrorist.""

And I feel that is not entirely the fault of the media, but of the extremists that use the Constitution as a reason to disobey laws and flagrantly attempt to elicit an improper reaction from Law Enforcement officials. To me, it seems these people have a problem with authority (granted to them from either the US Constitution, State Constitution, or City Ordinances) and get their thrills by taunting the police. It reflects poorly on Constitutionalism as is clearly evident in this thread.

If one disagrees with the law, work within the legal system to change said law. If the law is favored by the majority of the people, this doesn't give authorization to look for loopholes and twist the words of the Founding Fathers to say what one means. I certainly hated it when x42 did it during his impeachment, and I strongly dislike it now.

[wimpycat]

Matthews and his merry band of brothers have hijacked the Constitution as surely as Jim Jones hijacked the Bible. Matthews understood the Constitution about as well as Jim Jones understood Christianity.

[Cultural Jihad]

Molon Labe

[Cultural Jihad]

LOONEY TUNES!!! This is what seperates conservative republicans from losertarians and other 3rd party nuts -- THANK GOD!

Exactly. They are ideologues. They see the world colored by the glasses of their ideology, and hence they do not see Reality, and hence all their schemes are doomed to failure.

[Cultural Jihad]

---

Does being stopped for speeding by the police constitute a valid, lawful, or Constitutional reason to use deadly force to repel the traffic stop in self-defense?

---

[soccermom]

Yep. They are deluded enough to think that their perception of the constition exempts them from following the law. I am perfectly content to let Harry Browne, Pat Buchanan etc., march these nuts out of the GOP.

[Shooter 2.5]

I would suggest that everyone just ignore this liar, exodus. He's just a troll and not worth writing to.

[Cultural Jihad]

And they need to keep on marching out of FreeRepublic. We don't need ideologue loons who think their right to endanger lives and flaunt Constitutional law is more important than anyone else's right to their own life.

[Shooter 2.5]

There's never a dull moment with the Irish.


It's always amazing that people always think they know something about firearms and tactics because of what they see on TV.

I do have a theory about why Taylor was shot in the butt. I think he was falling prior to getting hit. It was dark and he may have been seeking cover by diving or he was going down from tripping over something. It doesn't matter. The bullet matched and even with friendly fire, Mathews was responsible.

[soccermom]

Well --- as long as they don't claim to represent FreeRepublic, it is nice to have them to "kick around." The problem is democrats take these nuts as representative of FreeRepublic.

[exodus]

To: exodus
"...a police officer being bonded or not ain't a civil right violation..."
# 613 by Abundy

To: Abundy
"...That's true, and Dwight Class would agree with you. He said that they might not have sworn an oath to hold a position as a civil serant. (Dwight Class) ddn't say that was a violation of anyone's civil rights...."
# 623 by exodus
*************************

Abundy, you were right, and I was wrong.
I think it's time for me to go to sleep now.

"...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.”

I'm sorry I wasted your time with that, Abundy. Especially after all that bragging I did about being "very good" at reading things in context.

I'm going to sleep now.

[wimpycat]

This other thread about the slain officer's widow says his widow was told by the police that Taylor was in the process of exiting the passenger side door of his vehicle at the moment he was shot. My theory, taking into account that Taylor, as the local police assisting the Highway Patrol on this high speed chase, was sitting in the driver's seat of his vehicle, with the vehicle in drive and his foot on the brake when Matthews got out of his vehicle and approached the driver's side of Taylor's vehicle. Matthews then pulled out his weapon, and in the split second Taylor had to realize what was going on before the fatal shot was fired, Taylor was made a dive away from Taylor when he was shot from behind. Taylor did manage to get out, or fall out, of the vehicle, which had started moving the moment he took his foot off the brake and continued to roll.

[Shooter 2.5]

I keep a list of all the Freepers that I would rather not converse with. "You know who" just earned four stars.

[ResistorSister]

This was no "constitutionalist" but a flamming a$$hole.

No doubt.

No true constitutionalist acts anything like this nutcase.

Well, maybe you could make a public service announcement in my local newspaper to announce that "no true constitutionalist acts anything like this nutcase"...because the rest of the little critters, who are calling themselves constitutionalist, are crawling out of the woodwork and proving themselves to be true Ohio BUCKEYES = (worthless nuts)

[lavaroise]

Does being stopped for speeding by the police constitute a valid, lawful, or Constitutional reason to use deadly force to repel the traffic stop in self-defense?

NO.

Is confinement in color of law a felony requiring the use of deadly force? As when those women being raped by a state cop in Indiana?

Yes.

Does seat belt stop constitute legal infringement on the jurisdictions of a driver?

No! Since when the driver violated jurisdictions by not putting a seat belt on? Since when stoping on the highway was safe?

Can constitutionalists be misinterpreted or mislead?

Yes, as the Massillon case seem to demonstrate that we are under God, and not under the constitution per say, though the constitution represents no contradiction to living under God.

Can we compare the constitutionalists' murder rate to GOPers' murder rates and Democrats' murder rates. Heck, why not!!! Why is this article focusing on constitutionalists in the absolute is beyond bull sh!t!!!

[Shooter 2.5]

That makes sense. Only the hollywood gun experts expect anyone to have a standup gunfight.
I half expect them to say that there wasn't any gunfight at all because there weren't any tumbleweeds blowing by.

Again, I would suggest that everyone ignore exodus. He's a disgrace to FR.