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.
You go through the tread and I'll respond to any particular point you wish to make. Fair enough?
I don't have a clue what your talking about..
He set his police department to ticket, stop, or even arrest violators of "minor violations".
The result? NYC became the safest large city in America in 5 years. Do a search on the "Broken Window theory". It wll explain all.
The upshot is that good policing can reduce crime. Duh!
Dare I ask? Hehehe... Could I see a credible source for this "New York, safest city in America" statement? If you don't mind.....I guess I missed that somewhere. I look forward to your facts backing this up.....
Uh, That's not what I asked for. You made the above statement, and I asked for a source to back it up. Now I know this isn't true. Why would you make a statement like this?
Actually, I did a little quick research, it's not only *not* the safest city, in overall ratings, it didn't even rate among the top 25 safest cities.....
I'm afraid that you've lost me with this. I did mispost a couple of days ago to someone else and if that created confusion for anyone then I apologize. At this point I don't know what your "CJ post" is referring to.
The article talks about a statistical drop in serious crimes from the aggressive enforcement of minor crimes; whereas your stats are static.
I've been driving since 1976, and I've never gotten a speeding ticket. Not that I haven't done 100mph+ on more than one occasion, I'm just very careful about when and where I open my cars up. Normally I'm doing at or below the speed limit in traffic, maybe a little over if that's what the flow demands.
My beef with traffic stops is that unless I'm doing something obviously dangerous for given road conditions, it's a waste of the cops' time to hassle me.
It was. CJ only posts when he's already lost and the only thing he might do is sway some gullible lurker somewhere....then again they'd have to be REAL gullible..
I sure wouldn't argue with that. In the event a time comes to stand my ground one day....I hope it will be of my choosing.
I think there are a good many people who dream of having their moment of glory in some confrontation. The dream may involve violence or it may involve some courtroom drama where they smite the bad guys with their brilliance and Constitutional knowledge or whatever. But that's not, IMO, smart because they're fighting on the other guy's turf and under his rules.
Why do I expect that, asked who should determine what is "obviously dangerous," your response will be "me"?
Bottom line: Respect the law by obeying the law. If you want the law changed, then work within the established framework for doing so.
Don't jeopardize my family's and my safety because you have delusions of grandeur ("h*ll, I know when Ah'm goin' too fast! I know when Ah've had too much t'drink!")
To many of the rabidly anti-government types that post on the forum, yours and my families safety is not important compared to their right to do as they please. Any adherence to the law makes one a sheeple and is a prerequisited to allowing the government to be a police state. I haven't seen too many of them posting on this thread though, but the ones that do are already spouting 'we don't know the whole story', hoping the story will die down.
My prayers go out to the widow of the fallen Officer and his 2 children.
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