Posted on 08/11/2002 3:14:42 AM PDT by ResistorSister
JACKSON TWP. -- He believed that the U.S. Constitution is the governing force of the people. And he carried an imported semiautomatic military handgun.
He refused to pay personal income taxes, at least three times.
In a Web site posting in May 2000, Donald W. Matthews protested “unconstitutional and onerous gun laws” in the United States. He tried to gather support to petition the U.S. Supreme Court about citizens’ gun rights. His screen name was “Broom Handle.”
Even so, friends of 61-year-old Jackson Township man struggled Saturday to understand what led him to flee police, bail out of his moving car, then turn a high-powered Czechoslovakian military assault weapon on them — killing a 31-year-old Massillon police officer.
Matthews, too, was killed in a storm of gunfire with Massillon police officers and a Ohio Highway Patrol trooper.
The act seemed out of character to some of his neighbors.
“He was a very kind person,” said Judy DeCamp, a neighbor and friend for many years. “I’m just devastated.”
Matthews lived in a two-story apartment at 6688 Casper Ave. NW. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms conducted a three-hour-plus search of Matthews’ apartment Saturday night.
Authorities seized a small computer tower and at least three grocery bags of possible evidence.
Some neighbors knew him as a polite, helpful person. But most didn’t know him at all.
Matthews was driving his car 72 mph in a 60-mph zone when he was stopped Friday night for speeding by Trooper Joseph Hershey, 25, of the Wooster patrol post
The trooper pulled over Matthews’ maroon 1992 Ford Taurus at 8:28 p.m. on Route 21 at Edwards Road in Wayne County.
When the trooper walked up and asked for Matthews’ driver’s license, Matthews rolled down his window about an inch and held the license up to the glass, refusing to pass it outside to the trooper. Matthews mentioned something about the stop being a violation of his constitutional rights.
He didn’t hang around for long.
He sped away, and the chase was on.
A short time later, Matthews and Massillon Police Officer Eric Taylor, who had joined the chase, were dead.
The body of the balding Matthews lay in the old Agathon ballfield lot just off the intersection of First Street and Cherry Road NE for several hours after the shootout. His straw hat with a flowered band was upside down near his head, his yellow and gray-striped shirt was soaked in blood and his belted khaki pants were down around his knees.
The officer was taken to nearby Massillon Community Hospital, where he later was pronounced dead.
Stark County Deputy Coroner Dr. P.S.S. Murthy said Taylor died from one gunshot wound. A bullet from Matthews’ gun entered Taylor’s left buttock and perforated his aorta, the artery that pumps blood from the heart, causing massive blood loss and death, he said.
Matthews was shot at least three times, Murthy said. The bullets hit him in his left chest, base of the neck and right arm, he said.
Highway Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis said investigators were trying to determine whether Matthews’ actions stemmed from any connection to the Ohio Militia, a radical movement. Most of its members believe the government and police have no constitutional authority over them.
“Investigators are attempting to develop information which could substantiate that,” Lewis said.
But friends of Matthews knew his convictions were strong.
“He was very ‘government,’ ” said Ken Kindler, who has known Matthews for more than a decade and hired him to do maintenance work. “His views on the Constitution were very strong. He was very dedicated to the Constitution.”
“He could recite article this and section so-and-so,” Kindler said.
But Matthews, who graduated in 1959 from Dormont High School in Dormont, Pa., just south of Pittsburgh, had an easy way about him.
“He’d do anything for anybody,” Kindler said. “I wouldn’t have a bad word to say about the man, myself.”
Sean Cook, a former police officer in Wayne County, has lived in Matthews’ apartment complex for nine years. He never met him.
But that’s how Matthews was, Kindler said. Quick to say hello, he also seemed to mind his own business.
Kindler, who is self-employed and handles maintenance at the apartment complex, hired Matthews on Tuesday. Matthews worked for him Wednesday and Thursday, putting in a total of nine hours.
Kindler paid him cash for his work.
Matthews had no other job.
At least three times in the last decade, tax liens were placed against Matthews and his wife, Catherine Matthews, after they failed to pay state personal income taxes.
Stark County Common Pleas Court records said cases filed against the Matthewses in 1992, 1993 and 1994 remained open.
Lewis said Matthews had no criminal record.
But he did have a traffic violation.
Matthews was charged Jan. 20, 1998, with having no operator’s license. When he failed to appear for his hearing, a warrant for his arrest was issued. The warrant later was canceled when he filed a grievance. He was found guilty and sentenced to pay a $167 fine and be jailed if he could not show a valid operator’s license within 60 days.
He showed the license and his jail time was suspended. The fine was paid.
On the Net:
Staff writer Robert Wang contributed to this report.
You can reach Repository writer Lori Monsewicz at (330) 580-8309 or e-mail:
The Tokarev used this cartridge and was considered to be one of the first magnum powered semi automatic handguns .... of course it's obsolete now with .50 AE Semi autos handguns being commonly available.
It means that this AH murdered a poor innocent cop, that was just doing his job. If this AH had a beef, he should have took it up with someone in higher authority. G- Damnit, these cops are no different than most of us. Most all cops are totally pro freedom, and anti liberal bull $hit....They are just a small brick in the big wall....This SOB should have got his priorities straight....
Huh? I would think the Tokarev would be decades too late to be "one of the first mangun powered semi automatic handguns", considering that the same round was used in an autopistol in 1896. FYI, while CZ-52 loadings tend to be more potent than the orignal loadings for that cartridge, the Tokarev is designed for a lighter loading.
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