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Canfield teacher's case pushed back
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
A Canfield teacher on paid administrative leave has requested a jury trial, pushing back for months a resolution of his domestic-violence case.
Canfield schools Superintendent Alex Geordan said that Canfield Village Middle School teacher Douglas Dawson, 47, has been on paid leave since his Thanksgiving night incident with his family led to charges of domestic violence, obstructing official business and resisting arrest.
He had an additional charge of violating an order of protection Jan. 1, and his wife filed for divorce Dec. 30.
Dawson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“Obviously, no matter what happens in the court, we’re going to do an internal investigation,” Geordan said. “He’s not going to be back in the classroom if the courts come down with a different ruling until the internal investigation” is complete, he said.
Dawson had been scheduled for a pretrial hearing Tuesday; his previous two pretrial hearings were continued, but his attorney made a motion for a jury demand. He won’t be in Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield again until 9 a.m. Sept. 4 for a pretrial hearing.
The Thanksgiving night incident stemmed from an argument between Dawson and one of his sons about using a car. The son then took a vehicle from the home, which led to an argument between Dawson and his wife, according to a police report.
His wife told police Dawson put her in a headlock and “flipped her upside-down and pinned her down,” the report said. Dawson also threw himself backward into an officer, driving that officer into a glass china cabinet. Police officers then stunned Dawson and pinned him to the ground to take him into custody Thanksgiving night.
Mike McBride, a county assistant prosecutor, said the delay is because Canfield’s court typically has only two juries a year.
“We just had the last session that was scheduled to occur last week,” said McBride. He further said the next session would be “sometime in the fall.”
Canfield schools has been paying Dawson since he went on paid leave after the incident. Now that the court case is being pushed back months, Geordan said the schools will look at its options.
“We’re very cognizant of the law and the collective- bargaining agreement. ... [We’ll] see if we have any other avenues to see if we can place him on unpaid leave,” the superintendent said. “We have to make sure that we are prudent in our decisions and cognizant of taxpayer dollars.”
Geordan further said that a substitute has been used while Dawson has been on leave, and that substitute will be continued until the court case is resolved.