I found this remarkable photo in Robin Unger’s extraordinary galleries of JFK assassination photo. It was taken moments after gunfire that took President Kennedy’s life. At a glance we see exactly how two law enforcement officers responded to the sound of gunfire.
The policeman, at left with pistol drawn, is looking up at the Texas Schoolbook Depository where he thought some of the shots came from.
Right in front of him, but far in the distance, is another Dallas policeman parking his motorcycle so that he can run up to the area (in the upper right hand corner of the photo) known as the “grassy knoll” where he thought other shots came from.
It took atleast 60 to 90 seconds before the police reacted to the shots. In the picture above you can see the photographers are taking pictures of the Newman family. The African American older gentleman in the light clothes (middle left) is seen in all the films taken on November 22nd and can be used a good reference point. I have always been interested in the people moving away from Dealey Plaza such as the policeman in a rain coat accompanied by a lady as shown on the Bell film.
Who is the Officer in the picture? Has anyone ever heard how many shots he thought he heard or where they came from? Did he make a statement for the DPD, FBI, SS, Warren Omission? This may be well known, I just don’t remember reading it.
The policeman who ran up to the corner of the knoll fence was Clyde Haygood, who was on Main Street when he heard the shots. He saw some witnesses on the ground pointing behind them but when he got to the top of the hill he didn’t find anything there. Five minutes later he radioed in that a witness had told him the shots came from the TSBD:
http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1139&search=hargis_AND+police#relPageId=946&tab=page
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/haygood.htm
People often overlook that out of 64 witnesses who are on record about where shots came from, only four said they came from more than one direction. The others were about evenly split between those who thought ALL the shots came from the TSBD and those who thought ALL the shots came from the knoll area. (Josiah Thompson’s Six Seconds in Dallas.) One of these two groups of people has to be wrong, obviously.
The police officer who parked his motorcycle and ran up to the over pass was responding to an order from the Chief of Police, Jessie Curry, to get men up on top of that Overpass and see what happened up there. He did not go up there because he thought shots came from up there. He responded to the order given by the Chief of Police.
Here is a link to the segment of the Channel 2 broadcast where Chief Curry orders his men to go to the top of the overpass to see what happened.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1TIa7EkAi5lM2wyUzB6T0pueEE/view?usp=sharing
He responded to the order from Jessie Curry
who thought the shots had come from that area
. That is correct.
I’m not sure if you’re suggesting Curry thought the shots came from the overpass area but this is from his WC testimony.
Mr. MCCLOY – How close were you then to the underpass when you first heard that shot?
Mr. CURRY – Oh, perhaps 150 feet or 100 feet or so.
Mr. MCCLOY – So you are convinced that the shot could not have come from the overpass?
Mr. CURRY – I don’t believe it did; no, sir.
Mr. MCCLOY – Then—-
Mr. CURRY = Because there didn’t seem to be any commotion going on over there. This seemed to be people I could see, they didn’t seem to run or anything. They just seemed to be there.
Just to save someone else the trouble, the photo can be found in Robin Unger’s “Towner Gallery” album, page 1, file 4 (also pages 9 and 10, files 105 and 109). The car is apparently camera car #1.
While his collection is unquestionably the best available on the subject, in which particular Gallery of Mr. Unger’s pictures is this one located?
I’m confused. I don’t remember this picture ever being brought to the forefront. The Officer with the drawn gun on the South side of Elm Street is new to me though I’m no Robert Groden regarding pictures. The yellow 63 chevy is a press car I’ve read. One reporter jumped out and kept taking pictures.
I don’t see the downed motorcycle of the officer running up the Grassy Knoll in this picture though I know that happened from other pictures. But the officer with the drawn gun looking up at the TSBD while others are laying down on the Grassy Knoll or running to it is interesting. I just don’t remember any trees close to the curb on the south side of Elm at that point as are hanging over the officers head.
The image you post is a crop of a larger image. Here is a link to the complete image.
Click on the link below. Then click on the image shown to enlarge it.
https://goo.gl/photos/GAeQwpFxokWpjGk49
Please ignore my previous post on this because the link in that post did not work.
The image you post is a crop from a larger image. Here is the other half of that image.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNUqrfXhdK_ZXMyJpmcj85zPNW2rcRTtxSkWTma
The police officer who parked his motorcycle and ran up to the over pass was responding to an order from the Chief of Police, Jessie Curry, to get men up on top of that Overpass and see what happened up there. He did not go up there because he thought shots came from up there. He responded to the order given by the Chief of Police.
In addition to the citing of Roger Unger’s galleries in the article above, there are some really interesting Youtube videos that have been uploaded by Denis Morissette, in relation to subjects around the assassination of President Kennedy. They are well worth a look:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DenisMorissetteJFK/videos
The Dealey Plaza Gallery on p. 3 has photos of Dark Complected Man. Has the identity of this significant witness been determined?
The Daeley Plaza gallery on p.3 has pictures of Dark Complected Man. Has the identity of this significant witness been determined?
If they were both right in their initial reactions that would mean at least two shooters and thus a conspiracy.
This picture confirms the way I feel…shots were fired from both areas. That means more than one area, that means there was a conspiracy to assassinate the 35th President.
Yup, and from Secret Service agents testimony obvious crossfire: one carcano-mannlicher doesn’t make such noises, but multiple carcano-mannlichers fired almost simultaneously do.
Not sure what the near policeman is looking at, but everyone else is looking at the GK.