Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

 What you see Clint Hill do at the 17 second mark in the Zapruder film is absolutely impossible. You can see that the limo is moving along at a fast clip. You know that because of how fast the far ground is changing and people are being passed. So, how could Clint Hill possbly catch up with a vehicle that was moving that fast?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj43Lo8E1zQ&rco=1

What we are seeing there isn't even real. I'm not doubting that Hill cilmbed onto the back of the limo. But, he did when either it was stopped or very nearly stopped, and I mean less than 5 mph. Make that well less than 5 mph.

If a person were running, and he got to gentle steps, as opposed to steep steps, he could probably negotiate the steps without altering his gate or his timing. In other words, he could do it fluidly. But, if you are running behind a car, and when you get to the car, you intend to climb up the back of the car, you can't do that fluidly. There is a glitch between the running and the climbing.

1. Running onto gentle steps

If the steps are shallow enough, the runner can maintain much of his existing stride pattern. His feet continue moving in a relatively familiar rhythm. There may be minor adjustments, but there doesn't necessarily have to be a perceptible interruption in his momentum or cadence.

The transition is relatively seamless.

2. Running toward the back of a car and climbing onto it

That's an entirely different proposition.

The runner is initially moving with:

• A forward-running stride.
• A particular cadence.
• A particular body posture.
• A particular relationship between his feet and the ground.

But when he reaches the car, he has to change all of that.

He must:

• Shorten or interrupt his running stride.
• Place a foot against a vertical or inclined surface.
• Generate upward force rather than simply forward propulsion.
• Shift his center of gravity upward and forward.
• Find a stable foothold before continuing the climb.

There is a necessary transition between running and climbing.

And that transition is likely to produce a visible disruption in his movement.

The important distinction

The gentle steps are essentially an extension of the running surface. The rear of a car is an obstacle requiring a change in the mechanics of locomotion.

This is particularly important in the scenario we've been discussing involving the Secret Service follow-up car in the JFK motorcade.

A person running behind a moving automobile cannot simply carry his running gait onto the back of the car as though he were running up a flight of shallow stairs. He has to negotiate a mechanical transition. And the faster the car is moving, the more complicated that transition becomes.

Do you realize that a swift running speed for a person who is not an elite runner is maybe 6 mph; that's all (and there is no reason to think Clint Hill was an elite running; he smoked; the night before he was out drinking). So, for him to catch up with the limo, he would have to be running a lot faster than it.

Again: I don't doubt that he got up on the limo. But, he did it when it was either completely still or was barely moving; maybe 2 or 3 mph; that's all. What we see in the Zapruder film is impossible, and it isn't real. It was finagled, and we know that because of the crappy CIA art that I have put before you.