- LEE OSWALD LEAVES 10TH & PATTON
- Mr. Croy. Yes.
Mr. Griffin. Unassigned?
Mr. Croy. Yes. - Mr. Griffin. I see. Now, I am just referring to the street you found him on. When you got there, was Tippit's car there?
- Mr. Croy. I don't know. There was a slew of them. That would be hard to say.
- Mr. Griffin. Were there any officers there that you knew?
- Mr. Croy. There were several officers there that I knew. I don't know their names.
- Mr. Croy. It was a woman standing across the street from me. I don't recall her name. She gave me her name at that time.
- Mr. Croy. Oh, a good 5 or 10 minutes.
- Mr. Griffin. This conversation all took place near the scene of the Tippit killing?
- Mr. Croy. Leaning up against his car.
- Mr. Griffin. Do you know the name of the woman you talked to across the street?
- Mr. Croy. I don't recall. I think she lived across the street. She was standing out in front watering her yard or doing something in her yard.
- Mr. Griffin. Well, you stated that she was watering her yard?
- Mr. Croy. Or something. She was standing in the yard doing something.
- Mr. Griffin. But the first thing you indicated was, she had been watering her yard? Apparently that was something that stuck with you from, of course, talking with her?
- Mr. Croy. I don't remember what she said she was doing. She was doing something in the yard, and I presume that is where she lived was across the street.
After shooting Tippit, LEE Oswald began walking south on Patton toward Jefferson Blvd. while removing the empty shells from his revolver and tossing them on the ground. Domingo Benavides, who was sitting in his truck on the opposite side of the street facing Tippit's car, watched Oswald as he left the scene. He remembered, "the back of his (LEE Oswald's) head seemed like his hairline sort of went square instead of tapering off. His hair didn't taper off, it kind of went down and squared off." HARVEY Oswald's hairline, as we know from numerous photographs taken at the police station, extended well down his neck and past his collar line --- it was not "squared off" as described by Benavides.
The white vehicle in the photo below is the approximate location where Benavides' stopped and observed the shooting.
A LITTLE-KNOWN EYE WITNESS
Mrs. Doris Holan observed the shooter as he was walking toward Patton. Mrs. Holan lived on the 2nd floor at 409 E Tenth Street, directly across the street from the Tippit shooting. Mrs Holan had just returned home from her job a few minutes after 1:00 when she heard several gun shots. From her 2nd floor bedroom window she had possibly the best view of the murder scene, and saw Tippit lying on the street near the left front of his patrol car. She saw a man leaving the scene, hurrying westward towards Patton. Mrs Holan also noticed a 2nd police car in the narrow driveway between the houses directly across the street at 404 and 410 E. 10th. Tippit's car was stopped directly in front of this driveway (see photo), which prevented this 2nd police car from driving onto 10th St. This occurred within one-two minutes after the shooting, which means the 2nd police vehicle was probably in the driveway and the occupants observed the shooting. As the 2nd police car moved forward very slowly, towards Tippit's car, a man in the driveway walked toward Tippit's body lying in the street. Mrs. Holan went downstairs and across the street. The man in the driveway walked in front of Tippit's patrol car and then paused to look down at Tippit and to confirm that he was dead. As the man retraced his path up the driveway the 2nd police car backed up to the alley that ran parallel to Tenth. The 2nd police vehicle, with two occupants, quickly and quietly left before witnesses began to arrive at the scene. Whoever these two occupants were, they were most likely co-conspirators who knew of Tippit's pre-planned assassination. And they were only 1 mile from the Texas Theater.
MRS. HOLAN - 409 E 10TH DRIVEWAY BETWEEN 404 & 410 E. 10TH
After hearing gun shots Jimmy Burt and William Arthur Smith quickly ran toward Burt's 1952 two-tone blue Ford, which was parked on Denver Street near 10th Street facing south. They jumped into the car, turned right onto 10th Street, and within a minute arrived in front of Tippit's patrol car. They saw LEE Oswald near the corner of 10th & Patton with a gun in his right hand. As LEE Oswald hurried south on Patton, toward Jefferson, Burt got out of the car and began to follow him.
NOTE: Burt and Smith, after arriving at 10th & Patton in their 1952 blue Ford, may have been seen and mistaken by Acquilla Clemons and Frank Wright as the assassins of Officer Tippit.
The police were quickly notified of the shooting by telephone and via Tippit's car radio. The police dispatcher broadcast the shooting at 1:10 PM as witnesses (Markham, W.A. Smith, Scoggins, Virginia Davis, Barbara Davis, Callaway, Benavides, Wright) began to walk to Tippit's patrol car and saw him lying on the street. An ambulance was dispatched from the Dudley Hughes Funeral Home and soon arrived at 10th & Patton.
Witness Helen Markham told the WC that Oswald was "wearing a light gray looking jacket and kind of dark trousers" and said the shooting occurred at 1:06 PM. T.F. Bowley was driving west on 10th Street and did not see the shooting. He arrived at the scene and used the police radio to report the shooting. Bowley looked at his watch--the time was 1:10 PM (CE 2003). An original DPD police transcript, found in the National Archives, lists the time of transmission as 1:10 PM.
RESERVE OFFICER KENNETH CROY ARRIVES AT THE SCENE
Reserve officer Kenneth Croy, who minutes before was in and around Dealey Plaza, said he was the first police officer to arrive at the scene of Tippit's murder. Croy said that while driving home he heard about the shooting of an officer on the police radio. Croy said that he arrived at the scene and saw Tippit being loaded in the ambulance. He said that he then stood next to Tippit's car and interviewed a witness for about 10 minutes, but could not remember her name . In fact Croy could not remember the name of a single witness nor could he remember the name of any police officer at 10th & Patton. Croy said he was the only police officer on the scene for 8-10 minutes, even though he was "unassigned". The problem with Croy's testimony is that not a single witnesses (Markham, W.A. Smith, Scoggins, Virginia Davis, Barbara Davis, Callaway, Benavides, Wright) remembered Croy or remembered speaking with him at the scene.
Mr. Griffin. Were you at the scene when Tippit was there?
Mr. Croy. Yes.
Mr. Griffin. Was Tippit there?
Mr. Croy. They were loading him in the ambulance.
Mr. Griffin. Were other officers on the scene?
Mr. Croy. None that I saw.
Mr. Griffin. Did any of the--how many police officers came out to the scene of the Tippit killing while you were there?
Mr. Griffin. How long did you talk with her?
How convenient that Croy just happened to be the first officer at the scene of the Tippit shooting--5 to 10 minutes before any other officers arrived. Who did he talk with for 5-10 minutes? Who was the woman "watering her lawn?" Watering her lawn in November? We shall soon see that Croy's presence at 10th & Patton may have been much more than a "coincidence."
TIPPIT'S BODY IS REMOVED
Tippit's body was loaded into the ambulance by Clayton Butler and Eddie Kinsley and driven to nearby Methodist Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Liquori (circa 1:22 PM). Among the items removed from Tippit at the hospital and taken to the police station was one "black billfold."
At 1:22 PM, DPD officer J.M. Poe arrived and said, "there were already 150 to 200 people around there and the ambulance had already left." Benavides gave two empty shell casings, in an empty cigarette package, to Poe. We must wonder why Benavides did not give the two shell casings to Croy, if Croy was the only police officer at the scene for 5-10 minutes. Helen Markham provided Poe with a description of the shooter ( Markham never said she talked to Croy) which he immediately passed onto the the DPD dispatcher who reported: "Last seen about the 300 block East Jefferson. He's a white male about 30, 5'8," Black hair, slender, wearing a white jacket, white shirt and dark slacks."
DPD officers began to question witnesses as more and more on-lookers gathered. We will soon learn that a wallet containing identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and Alex Hidell was allegedly found at the scene by Croy. But not one witness, not one ambulance driver, not one neighbor, not one on-looker and not one trained police officer saw a wallet lying on the street or in Tippit's car. Ted Calloway said, "I'll tell you one thing, there was no billfold at that scene. If there was, there would have been too many people who would have seen it."
NOTE: We can now understand Croy's convoluted testimony about his arrival at 10th & Patton. By claiming that he was the first and only officer on the scene, which was not remembered by a single witness, Croy could say that he found a wallet at the murder scene, before witnesses arrived, and then gave that wallet to Capt. Westbrook.
LEE Oswald walked past taxi driver WW Scoggins, parked near the corner of 10th & Patton, who said Oswald wore dark trousers and a light shirt. Scoggins then called his dispatcher to report the shooting and his dispatcher called for an ambulance. As LEE Oswald continued walking north on Patton, Ted Callaway saw him at a distance of about 60 ft. and described him as "white male, 27, 5'11", 165 lbs, black wavy hair, fair complected, wearing a light gray Eisenhower type jacket, dark trousers, and a white shirt" (CE 705, pg 27). When interviewed and filmed many years later, Callaway again said, "he had on a white Eisenhower type jacket and a white t-shirt"--once again no brown shirt, just a white T-shirt. The next person to see LEE Oswald was Warren Reynolds, part owner of Johnny Reynolds Used Car Lot at the corner of Patton and Jefferson Blvd. Reynolds followed Oswald a short distance and last saw him walking past the Ballew Texaco Station. On January 22, 1964, FBI agents Kesler and Mitchem showed a photograph of Lee HARVEY Oswald to Reynolds, at which time he advised the two agents that he would hesitate to definitely identify the man shown in the photograph as the shooter. A few minutes later Robert and Mary Brock saw LEE Oswald as he walked past the Ballew Texaco Station, 600 Jefferson Blvd. Mary said Oswald was wearing "light clothing, a light colored jacket and with his hands in his pocket" (interview of Brock by SAs Kesler and Mitchem 1/22/64). As he walked through the parking area adjacent to the Texaco station, LEE Oswald removed his medium-size jacket and threw it under a car, which left him wearing only a white t-shirt, and carrying a loaded pistol. Not one person saw LEE Oswald with a long-sleeved brown shirt, but several people saw him wearing a white t-shirt.
After hearing two shots Jimmy Burt and William Arthur Smith ran toward Burt's 1952 two-tone blue Ford, which was parked on Denver Street near 10th Street facing south. They jumped into the car, turned right onto 10th Street, and within a half-minute arrived in front of Tippit's patrol car. They saw LEE Oswald near the corner of 10th & Patton with a pistol in his right hand. As LEE Oswald hurried south on Patton, toward Jefferson, Burt got out of the car and began to follow him.
NOTE: Burt and Smith, after arriving at 10th & Patton in the blue 1952 Ford, may have been seen and mistaken by Acquilla Clemons and Frank Wright as the assassins of Officer Tippit.
- Mr. Westbrook. Yes; behind the Texaco service station, and some officer, I feel sure it was an officer, I still can't be positive pointed this jacket out to me and it was laying slightly under the rear of one of the cars.
- Mr. Ball. What was the name of the officer?
- Mr. Westbrook. I couldn't tell you that, sir.
- Mr. Westbrook. Now, I did, when I left this scene, I turned this jacket over to one of the officers and I went by that church, I think, and I think that would be on 10th Street.
- Mr. Ball. I show you Commission Exhibit 162, do you recognize that?
- Mr. Westbrook. That is exactly the jacket we found.
- Mr. Ball. That is the jacket you found?
- Mr. Westbrook. Yes, sir.
- Mr. Ball. And you turned it over to whom?
- Mr. Westbrook. Now, it was to this officer--that got the name.
- Mr. Ball. Does your report show the name of the officer?
- Mr. Westbrook. No, sir; it doesn't. When things like this happen--it was happening so fast you don't remember those things.
A LIGHT COLORED EISENHOWER-TYPE JACKET
Dallas Police Captain W.R. Westbrook told the WC that he learned about the Tippit shooting when he was at the TSBD. Westbrook said, "I ran to my radio because I am the personnel officer and that then became, of course, my greatest interest right at that time, and so, Sergeant Stringer and I and some patrolman---I don't recall his name [Sgt. Calvin Owens testified he was the man Westbrook didn't recall]---then drove to the immediate vicinity of where Officer Tippit had been shot and killed. As we were approaching this squad car , a call came over the radio that a suspicious person had been sighted running into the public library at Marsalis and Jefferson, so we immediately went to that location and it was a false alarm; it was just one of the actually--it was one of the employees of the library who had heard the news somewhere on the radio and he was running to tell the other group about Kennedy."
Westbrook, and other officers, began to search the area around the Ballew Texaco station at 10th & Jefferson. A light-colored Eisenhower-type jacket was found, but the name of the police officer who found the jacket remains a mystery. When questioned by the WC about the jacket, Westbrook said "actually, I didn't find it--it was pointed out to me by either some officer that--that was while we were going over the scene in the close area where the shooting was concerned, someone pointed out a jacket to me that was laying under a car and I got the jacket and told the officer to take the license number." Westbrook then failed to identify the officer who discovered the jacket, failed to initial the jacket, and lost the critical "chain of custody" of this item. The jacket was an important piece of incriminating evidence that linked (LEE) Oswald to the Tippit shooting, as several eyewitnesses saw the assailant wearing a similar jacket.
Mr. Ball. You were just looking around to see what you could see?
Mr. Westbrook. Yes; and at this time I had a shotgun--I had borrowed a shotgun from a patrolman.
Mr. Ball. Where did you go when you got out of the car?
Mr. Westbrook. I walked through, and this is a car lot or a parking area right along in here, and I don't know whether I am wrong on my location on not, but I think I'm right.
Mr. Ball. You walked through a car lot, did you?
Mr. Westbrook. Yes, sir; and I think I came out---is that a church---there's a church right there close by.
Mr. Ball. Was there a station anywhere near there, a service station?
Mr. Westbrook. Oh, there could have been--yes, sir. There was either a used-car lot or a parking lot--that I don't know.
Mr. Ball. On what street?Mr. Westbrook. It was actually on Jefferson, but the place where this jacket was found would have been back closer to the alley, Mr. Ball.
Mr. Ball. Behind the Texaco service station?
Capt. Westbrook was in charge of personnel at the Dallas Police Department. Yet he cannot remember the name of the officer who pointed out the jacket to him nor the name of the officer to whom he gave the jacket. And not he nor any of the other police officers initialed the jacket to establish a "chain of custody"? Westbrook again had a temporary memory loss … ….how convenient !!
| At left is LEE Oswald photographed by his brother Robert in 1958. At right is the jacket allegedly found under a car near the Texaco station after the Tippit slaying. Are the jackets the same? | |
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