ANOTHER 15 INNOCENT DALLAS POLICEMEN – in my opinion:
In my continuing summary of the Warren Commission (WC) testimony by 43 Dallas Police, this post concludes my accounting of those 26 Dallas Officers for whom I find no clear evidence of any conspiracy, collusion or plotting to assassinate JFK in Dallas.
12. DPD Henry Moore: DPD Officer Moore usually started his DPD Headquarters (hereafter HQ) work at 4pm, but because of the crisis he came a little before 2pm to answer telephones. Around 6pm, Captain Fritz sent Moore and some others to Oak Cliff to search Oswald’s 4x12 room. They got a search warrant from Judge David Johnston, who also appeared there with assistant DA Bill Alexander and Detective F.M. Turner. They confiscated literally everything in that tiny room, including a downtown Dallas map with marks around Dealey Plaza; a gun holster for a .38 pistol, matching Oswald’s; some letters in Russian; a World Health Organization vaccination card in the name of Lee Oswald signed by vaccinator A.J. Hidell; a passport; and an application for a Texas driver’s license. They filled out City of Dallas property clerk receipts. On Saturday, Moore reported for work around 10am, and took a truck to Ruth Paine’s garage with Stovall, Rose and Adamcik. They had a search warrant and an Irving officer with them. The Paines gave them the run of the house as they went shopping. Moore said their most interesting find was a photo of Oswald holding his Manlicher-Carcano rifle. They took all this property to DPD HQ and filled out an official list. Then, Moore and Adamcik returned to the Irving address and brought Michael Paine to HQ to make out an affidavit. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
13. DPD Eugene Potts: Friday was his day off, but by 1pm he heard the news and by 2pm he was at HQ taking affidavits from eye-witnesses. At 3pm Captain Fritz directed Potts along with Moore, Senkel, Turner and Cunningham to go to Oswald’s rooming house. They brought back everything from that tiny, 4x12 foot room. By 5pm they were back at HQ. On Saturday at 2:15pm, Potts was asked to serve as a guard for Oswald’s line-up. Oswald complained that he was the only one with a T-shirt on. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
14. DPD Detective Robert Studebaker: On duty at the DPD Crime Lab, about 1:05pm they got a call to go to the TSBD. He arrived with his senior, Lt. Day, around 1:15pm, along with all their camera equipment and fingerprint kits. At the entrance, police directed them to the 6th floor. There was nothing to film when they arrived, he claims, but after "a little while," somebody found three empty shells in the southeast corner of the building – and so he and Lt. Day went there and took four photographs before anybody touched the bullets. A little while later, somebody found a rifle, and they were asked to photograph that. They came back later that day to take more photographs of the scene and of the building inside and outside. THIS TESTIMONY BOTHERS ME BECAUSE I SUSPECT STUDEBAKER'S SENIOR (LT. DAY), AND EITHER STUDEBAKER IS PLAYING IGNORANT OR TRULY WAS IGNORANT OF HIS SENIOR'S ACTIVITIES. SO FAR, HOWEVER, I SEE NO DIRECT EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT FROM THIS TESTIMONY -- YET I AM OPEN TO FURTHER ARGUMENTS ABOUT STUDEBAKER.
15. DPD Detective J.B. Hicks: Detective Hicks was off duty on Friday, but he arrived at the TSBD around 3pm. Chief Lumpkin told Hicks that Lt. Day and Detective Studebaker were still there on the 6th floor, dusting for fingerprints and taking more pictures. My job was to help them move their lighting and equipment back and forth. After that, Hicks went to HQ and took a set of Oswald’s fingerprints about 9pm in Captain Fritz’ office. Hicks also helped Sergeant Barnes make a paraffin cast on Oswald. Oswald didn’t protest; he was willing and had no comment on it. Hicks only asked Oswald his name when he made fingerprints and did not otherwise question Oswald. Hicks never saw any paper sack in the items taken from the TSBD. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
16. DPD Lt. T.L. Baker: For Captain Fritz, Lieutenant Baker prepared Commission Document 81-B, which documents the approximate times of the physical location of Oswald inside the various rooms of the DPD station, from around midnight Friday to about 2am Saturday. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
17. DPD Earl Brown: Officer Brown was on foot patrol at the railroad overpass. He saw the JFK Assassination from the overpass, but he did not see clear signs of a suspect. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
18. DPD J.W. Foster: Officer Foster was on foot patrol at the railroad overpass. He saw the JFK Assassination from the overpass, but he did not see clear signs of a suspect. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
19. DPD J.C. White: Officer White was on foot patrol at the railroad overpass. He saw the JFK Assassination from the overpass, but he did not see clear signs of a suspect. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
20. DPD Joe Murphy: Officer Murphy was on foot patrol at the railroad overpass. He saw the JFK Assassination from the overpass, but he did not see clear signs of a suspect. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
21. DPD C.T. Walker: Officer Walker was stationed at the 10th Street Fire Station in Oak Cliff. He drove to the TSBD around 12:45 in response to calls for assistance. At about 12:50 he took a position at the TSDB front steps screening IDs in and out. At 1:20pm he heard about the Tippit murder in Oak Cliff, and he drove back to Oak Cliff with two newspaper men. They took pictures and Walker was one of the officers to capture Oswald at the Texas Theater at about 1:50 PM. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
22. DPD Ray Hawkins: Officer Hawkins was working on traffic patrol and listening to the events of the day on the DPD radio, when around 1:15 he heard about the murder of Officer Tippit in Oak Cliff. So, he drove down there with Officers Baggett and Hudson. By the time they arrived, all the commotion was at the Texas Theater, so they drove around the back and went inside and joined the party of about seven officers to arrest Oswald. Oswald fought back with his fists and then pulled a gun, but they took it from him and took him outside. Hawkins protected Oswald from the enraged crowd. Then Hawkins drove back to HQ with Officer Bagget. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
23. DPD Richard Clark: Officer Clark was at work when, about 4:30pm, Captain Fritz told him to join Officer Perry to pretend to be prisoners. They took off our coats and ties and Clark put on a red vest from the line-up wardrobe. Clark’s right wrist was handcuffed to Oswald’s left wrist as Perry was handcuffed to the other side of Oswald. Officer Ables was handcuffed to Clark’s left wrist. Perry was #1; Oswald was #2; Clark was #3; and Ables was #4. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
24. DPD W.E. Perry: Officer Perry was on duty in the Vice Squad. He was asked to take part in an Oswald line-up at about 4:35pm; and again at 6:30pm, by pretending to be a prisoner. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
25. DPD Don Ables: Officer Ables was on duty at HQ. At about 4:30pm, Sergeant Duncan asked Ables to participate in a line-
up with Oswald. Ables was the #4 man in the line-up. I SEE NO EVIDENCE OF PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT.
26. DPD James Leavelle: Officer Leavelle’s only participation in the JFK saga was on Sunday afternoon. His task was to escort Oswald out of the City Jail into a car to take him to the County Jail. Leavelle expected the car to be across the passageway of the jail corridor, and that they would walk only 14 feet in a straight line from the door to the car. Leavelle asked Captain Fritz for the OK sign, and Fritz said, “Everything is all set.” However, the car wasn’t in the expected position! Leavelle was surprised when he walked to the door and the car was not in the spot it should have been! The spot where Oswald was killed was exactly the spot that the car was supposed to be! RATHER THAN PARTICIPATION IN A DALLAS PLOT, LEAVELLE EVIDENTLY TESTIFIED THAT CAPTAIN FRITZ AND OTHER SENIOR DALLAS POLICE OFFICERS MANIPULATED EVENTS TO ENABLE JACK RUBY TO KILL LEE HARVEY OSWALD.
In my next post to this blog, I will begin to name the 17 Dallas Police whose WC testimony suggests to me something more than simply doing their jobs on 11/22/1963.
Best regards,
--Paul Trejo