"You're Not Under Arrest"

[James DiEugenio]

BTW, I have to add, whoever was in the upper level of the plot, pulled off a real hole in one by choosing Dallas as the scene of the crime.

If you read Joe McBride you will see that the police management level did not give a fart about who killed JFK, but they were armed and ready to kill when one of their own got it.

Jim Garrison always thought that was the reason Tippit was murdered.

[Chris Bennett]

20 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

Then Captain Westbrook came in and gave the order to get him out of here as fast as you can and don't let anybody see him, and he was rushed out of the theatre.

I always wondered why Westbrook said this. Given that we now know Westbrook was at best up to some shady things that day (the wallet, et al), is it possible he gave this order as the scene commander to cover up for the arrest of a second person who was brought out back to the alley and who might have looked similar to Oswald?

Chris

Edited March 17, 2017 by Chris Bennett

[Michael Clark]

5 hours ago, Chris Bennett said:

I always wondered why Westbrook said this. Given that we now know Westbrook was at best up to some shady things that day (the wallet, et al), is it possible he gave this order as the scene commander to cover up for the arrest of a second person who was brought out back to the alley and who might have looked similar to Oswald?

Chris

Chris, that seems to be an excellent explanation.

Cheers,

Michael

[Michael Clark]

Three related threads.

 

[Steve Thomas]

9 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Say no more about Nick McDOnald,

The account of T.A. Hutson is very interesting.

Ray Hawkins and T.A. Hutson both participated in the apprehension of Lee Oswald.

Ray Hawkins call sign was 211

T.A. Hutson call sign was 284

 

J.D. Tippit is shot. Multiple units respond. A search of the houses in the vicinity is undertaken. The search of the houses proves fruitless. A suspect is spotted at the Library. Multiple units respond.

Sometime between the search of the houses and the sighting of a suspect at the Library, Hawkins and Hutson make a stop at a Mobile Gas Station at 10th and Beckley to make a phone call, supposedly in response from a request from Dispatch to call in.

I do not find any reference to this phone call in the Dispatch tapes.

 

Is it odd that Tippit and Hawkins are making phone calls on a landline telephone right around this same time period?

And what was Hutson doing that he burned out the clutch on his motorcycle? Either the motorcycles in the DPD were poorly maintained, or Hutson was doing some pretty wild riding. I have a vague memory of another motorcyclist's engine or clutch going out that day, but I can't put my finger on it right now.

 

(Hawkins) We had just finished the accident at this time and I was driving an officer, Baggett, and I proceeded to Oak Cliff to the general vicinity of the call after checking out with the dispatcher, stating that we were proceeding in that direction.

 

From the Dispatch tapes - Between 1:16 and 1:19 PM:

DIS 211:

211.

 

DIS: 211.

 

211: We're clear, Industrial and Stemmons. We'll go out there.

 

DIS: 10-4, 211

 

We arrived in Oak Cliff and there were several squads in the general vicinity of where the shooting had occurred---different stories had come out that the person was--the suspect had been seen in the immediate vicinity.
Mr. BALL. Did you go to 10th and Patton?
Mr. HAWKINS. We drove by 10th and Patton--we didn't stop at the location.
Mr. BALL. Where did you go then?
Mr. HAWKINS. We circled the vicinity around Jefferson and Marsalis and in that area, talking to several people on the street, asking if they had seen anyone running up the alley or running down the street, and then they received a call, or I believe Officer Walker put out a call that he had just seen a white man running to the Oak Cliff Library, at which time we proceeded to this location. Officer Hutson had gotten into the car with us when we arrived in Oak Cliff, and there were three of us in the squad car--Officer Baggett, Officer Hutson, and myself.
Mr. BALL Hutson is also a patrolman?Mr. HAWKINS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL. A uniformed patrolman?
Mr. HAWKINS. Yes, sir; he is a three-wheel officer.

 

(Hutson) Mr. HUTSON. As I was being released, (From Elm and Houston) I heard the radio dispatcher come on the radio and give a Signal 19, and that a shooting involving a police officer in the 500 block of East Jefferson...

Mr. BELIN. When you heard this news about this shooting in Oak Cliff----by the way, where was your regular station ordinarily?
Mr. HUTSON. I worked west of Vernon on Jefferson.
Mr. BELIN. Is that Oak Cliff?
Mr. HUTSON. Yes; that is West Jefferson Boulevard.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do after you heard about the shooting?
Mr. HUTSON. I got on my motorcycle and I proceeded down through the triple underpass and up onto R. L. Thornton Freeway to Oak Cliff.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you go?
Mr. HUTSON. I exited off Jefferson and went to the 400 block of East Jefferson Boulevard and began a search of the two-story house behind 10th Street where the officer had been shot.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Mr. HUTSON. And after we searched this area, I got in the squad car with Officer Ray Hawkins, who was driving, and Officer Baggett was riding in the back seat.
Mr. BELIN. Why did you get inside the squad car?
Mr. HUTSON. The clutch on my motorcycle was burned out and I couldn't get any speed and I just barely made it over there, and I didn't know whether I would be able to start and go or not.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?

 

Mr. HUTSON. We proceeded west on 10th Street to Beckley, and we pulled into the Mobil gas station at Beckley and 10th Street.
Mr. BELIN. That is a Mobil gas station?
Mr. HUTSON. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Mr. HUTSON. And Officer Ray Hawkins and Officer Baggett went inside of the Mobil gas station. And I am not positive, but I think they used the telephone to call in.
I am not positive, but I believe they gave us a call for us to call. I mean their number to call in.
At the time they were in the service station, I heard the dispatcher give a call that the suspect was just seen running across the lawn at the Oak Cliff Branch Library at Marsalis and Jefferson.
I reached over and blew the siren on the squad car to attract the officers' attention, Officers Baggett and Hawkins, and they came running out of the service station and jumped in the car, and I told them to report to, I can't remember, Marsalis and Jefferson, the suspect was seen running across the lawn at the library.

 

From the Dispatch tapes - 1:34 PM

 

22: They've got him holed up, it looks like, in this

building over here at the corner.

 

22: (?) ...were you be?

 

85: 85, library.

DIS: 10-4.

 

211: 211 out at that location.

DIS: 10-4.

 

Hawkins is circling the area around Jefferson and Marsalis (where the Library is). (which is about six blocks east of where Tippit has been shot)

He heads west and picks up Hutson in the neighborhood of 10th and Patton. They continue west on 10th till they get to Beckley and 10th, where they make a phone call at a Mobil Gas Station. While they're in there on a phone call, Dispatch announces that a suspect has been seen at the Library, so they head back east again.

 

Very interesting.

 

Steve Thomas

 

 

 

[Steve Thomas]

On 3/13/2017 at 10:37 AM, Steve Thomas said:

Like I said, I've just never read anyone who said, "I told Oswald he was under arrest for..."

 

Steve Thomas

 

 

I was reading through the account of Gerald Hill and my jaw dropped a little bit.

When he testified to the Warren Commission, he said,

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/hill_gl.htm

(Hill) “...we adjourned to the personnel office, which was further down the hall from homicide and I sat down and started to try to organize the first report on the arrest. I originally had the heading on it, "Injuries sustained by suspect while effecting his arrest in connection with the murder of Officer J. D. Tippit," and a few minutes later Captain Westbrook came in the office...

Captain Westbrook suggested that I change the heading of my report to include arrest of the suspect in the assassination of the President and in the murder of Officer J. D. Tippit, which I did.

I originally wrote the report for Bob Carroll's signature and for my signature, and left it with the captain to be typed while we moved over in another office to get a cup of coffee and sort of calm down and recap the events.

 

By then McDonald was there, and we had added some information that he could give us such as the information about "This is it." Which the suspect allegedly said as he came into contact with him.

 

When we got it back ready to sign, Carroll and I were sitting there, and it had Captain Westbrook's name for signature, and added a paragraph about he and the FBI agent being there, and not seeing that it made any difference, I went ahead and signed the report.

 

Actually, they were there, but I didn't make any corrections.
And as far as the report, didn't allege what they did, but had added a paragraph to our report to include the fact that he was there, and also that the FBI agent was there.
Now as to why this was done, your guess is as good as mine.”

 

Hill's Report is in the DPD Archives Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 76

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box5.htm

Hill's Report is not signed by Westbrook.

Westbrook's Report is Item# 84.

Westbrook couldn't remember the name of the patrolman who drove he and Bob Barrett from the site of Tippit's shooting to the theater.

I don't know of any Report that has Carroll's signature, Hill's signature and Westbrook's signature on it.

Where is this Report?

 

Steve Thomas

[James DiEugenio]

Nice job Steve.  Boy, Westbrook is a really interesting character.

 

He is becoming like the David Phillips of the DPD.

[Steve Thomas]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

Nice job Steve.  Boy, Westbrook is a really interesting character.

 

He is becoming like the David Phillips of the DPD.

Jim,

 

Hill:   "I sat down and started to try to organize the first report on the arrest. "

"Captain Westbrook suggested that I change the heading of my report to include arrest of the suspect in the assassination of the President..."

 

This was like 2:20 or 2:30 in the afternoon? You don't suppose in your conspiratorial suspicions that Westbrook is already pushing a narrative do you?

 

And again, where is this Report that was signed by Carroll, Hill and Westbrook, that was entitled, "Injuries sustained by suspect while effecting his arrest..."

It got buried. Why?

 

Steve Thomas

[James DiEugenio]

I don't know what he is doing.

 

I am saying that if the WC had been a real live inquiry, IMO, Westbrook would have been a person of interest.  Its a shame we had to wait this long.

But both John Armstrong and Bill Simpich are in agreement on this point.  And BTW you know what happened to Westbrook after this don't you?

[Steve Thomas]

5 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

I don't know what he is doing.

 

I am saying that if the WC had been a real live inquiry, IMO, Westbrook would have been a person of interest.  Its a shame we had to wait this long.

But both John Armstrong and Bill Simpich are in agreement on this point.  And BTW you know what happened to Westbrook after this don't you?

Jim,

 

No, I don't.

 

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

7 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

 And BTW you know what happened to Westbrook after this don't you?

Jim,

 

I learned about his stint with the Saigon police.

 

From a posting on the ReopenKennedyCase forum:

 

Dallas Morning News, The (TX) - February 21, 1996
Deceased Name: Rites set for William Ralph Westbrook 
Services for William Ralph "Pinky" Westbrook , a retired Dallas Police Department captain, will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Go Ye Village in Tahlequah, Okla. Mr. Westbrook , 78, died Monday of cancer at his home in Tahlequah. He worked for the Dallas Police Department from 1940 to 1965. He also worked as a special investigator for the Dallas County district attorney's office from 1970 to 1983. 

 

I was afraid I was going to find that out.

 

E.R. Beck, who worked in the Homicide and Robbery Bureau under Will Fritz, and who signed the release forms for John Elrod, Gus Abrams, Harold Doyle, Daniel Wayne Douglas, et.al. on November 26th went on to become Henry Wade's personal driver.

 

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

8 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

 And BTW you know what happened to Westbrook after this don't you?

This supposedly is a photo of Westbrook on page 26 of this book.
The Missing Chapter. by Jack Swike

I am not vouching for the author or his book. It's just something I ran across.

https://books.google.com/books?id=64ji-mF2oaAC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq="William+R.+Westbrook"&source=bl&ots=0xdb2t1bTz&sig=YT8bpNEzyNXWrzg4hG-pY_ooQI0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAu-KAtOLSAhWB6oMKHR-JADY4ChDoAQgmMAQ#v=onepage&q=%22William%20R.%20Westbrook%22&f=false

Steve Thomas

[James DiEugenio]

If he was working with the Saigon police at that time, does that not denote he was really working for the CIA or MACV?

[Steve Thomas]

12 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

If he was working with the Saigon police at that time, does that not denote he was really working for the CIA or MACV?

Jim,

 

I believe so. I think I read the other day that the Saigon police training program was a CIA operation. I didn't keep any references to that, so I'm sorry I can't offer you any specifics.

 

Jim, I had a thought last night. What do you think of the idea that Tippit's call at the Top Ten Record Store and Hawkins' call at the Mobil Gas Station are related; as in

"I can't find him.", or "He's not here.", meaning Oswald?

 

From the account's I've read, Tippit was behaving erratically, and the stop at Top Ten was a rushed affair.

Hawkins responds to the Tippit shooting, bur doesn't stop at 10th and Patton. He goes to the Library neighborhood at Jefferson and Marsalis and starts circling the neighborhood. Drives back to 10th and Patton,pick up Hutson, and then he and Baggett stop and make a phone call from a Mobil Gas Station at 10th and Beckley, leaving Hutson in the car. When Hutson blows the horn to let them know that a suspect has been seen at the Library, they go rushing back over there. Whatever Hutson is doing, he has blown the clutch on his motorcycle.

 

Is it possible that Tippit and Hawkins were calling the same people?

 

Steve Thomas

 

 

[Steve Thomas]

On 3/17/2017 at 7:20 AM, Steve Thomas said:

The account of T.A. Hutson is very interesting.

 

J.D. Tippit is shot. Multiple units respond. A search of the houses in the vicinity is undertaken. The search of the houses proves fruitless. A suspect is spotted at the Library. Multiple units respond.

Sometime between the search of the houses and the sighting of a suspect at the Library, Hawkins and Hutson make a stop at a Mobile Gas Station at 10th and Beckley to make a phone call, supposedly in response from a request from Dispatch to call in.

Mr. HUTSON. We proceeded west on 10th Street to Beckley, and we pulled into the Mobil gas station at Beckley and 10th Street.

 

Mr. BELIN. That is a Mobil gas station?
Mr. HUTSON. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Mr. HUTSON. And Officer Ray Hawkins and Officer Baggett went inside of the Mobil gas station. And I am not positive, but I think they used the telephone to call in.
I am not positive, but I believe they gave us a call for us to call. I mean their number to call in.

Very interesting.

 

Steve Thomas

 

 

 

WC Testimony of Kenneth Croy:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/croy.htm

“Mr. CROY. I am in the real estate business. I have a Mobil service station. I am in the steel erection business. And I am a professional cowboy, and that is about it that I can think of right now. “

 

Intriguing possibility...

 

Steve Thomas