Alan Ford

Identifying this man facially is impossible due to the poor quality of the film frames. And the image of his head------even his hair-------is horribly unstable from frame to frame

I at first thought the long object was a paper sack-------the paper sack, in fact. It's still very possible. However, Mr. Chris Davidson's posting of the GIF below, along with the flickering noted in the last post, made me consider a second possibility: a flag that has just been set alight. Political protest. A congruent first guess as to what the box-like object the man is standing behind: a box out of which the flag has just been taken. Cf. perhaps: what Mr. Spaulding Jones' saw in Mr. Oswald's hands in the elevator that morning: A congruent first guess as to what the object standing in front of the west mailbox might be: To set alight a flag quickly, douse part of it with gasoline and strike a match.............

CLUES! 1. The man is not just standing there holding out away from his body, and at a strange angle, a long object of some description. He is also standing behind what looks like a box- or case-like object: 2. Just in front of the west mailbox stands an object that does not belong to the mailbox: 3. There is a flickering at the lower part of the object held by the man. May be paper or something flapping in the wind. May be something else entirely. But it's fast.

That's not the Elm Street extension

Respectfully, Mr. Larsen, your estimate is off here. The curve added to your blue line is just as fanciful as your crosswalk. Officer Baker is not "veering right", he's not even in the "process of veering right"--------------he's just continuing to move toward the mailbox area. As he does so, his path is converging with that of the running lady. At the time you were coming up with this curving blue line in 2016, you were understandably troubled by the inexplicability of Officer Baker's route in the direction of the mailboxes. And that understandable unease led you astray. I quote from your presentation: [QUOTE] It is obvious that Baker was not headed for the TSBD entrance. (He was headed to the right of it.) But if not, what explains the path he is taking? [font change added, A.F.] Compare his path to the crosswalk in this (modern) photo: Officer Baker was simply following the crosswalk. [END QUOTE] But there was no crosswalk there 11/22/63, which fact renders your explanation for the path he is taking void. He is simply taking the shortest route from A to B-----------------B being the area by the mailboxes. C doesn't come into it. And here's the crucial part: there is no longer any need to find an explanation for "the path he is taking", because we now have an explanation: What's now needed is for us to try to explain the explanation!

Darnell shows more than enough of Officer Baker's run to allow us determine his direction and establish that he is most certainly not "originally heading toward the front steps" but toward an area just east of them. If his intention is to get up those steps asap, then he's going about it a very peculiar way indeed............... The man at the mailboxes cannot be Mr. Buell Wesley Frazier btw------------Darnell shows him still up on the entrance landing at this moment.

SL: I did no such thing. I didn't use crosswalk lines to perform my analysis. I merely noticed and noted, after my analysis was completed, that Baker and the two woman followed pretty closely the lines of today's crosswalk. AF: With respect, no------------you explained Officer Baker's bizarrely zigzag posited route to the intersection by saying he was deliberately using the crosswalk. But there was no crosswalk, so that explanation collapses. Leaving you with a bizarrely zigzag posited route to the intersection taken by Officer Baker for no good reason. If he wanted to go to the intersection he'd just run in the darn direction of it. He is, I think we can agree, in a hurry SL: I never claimed that Baker suddenly moved laterally. He was in the process of veering to the right on his last step. So he was still approaching the steps, but not at the same rate as before. And he had turned enough that we don't have a clear view of his butt the way we do of the two women. AF: Apple and orange, Mr. Larsen: you are again leaving out of account the fact that Officer Baker and the running woman are approaching the mailboxes area from different angles. They are gradually converging on the same area. And, as already pointed out, the only way we'd "have a clear view of [Officer Baker's] butt" would be if he were running with his back to Darnell for the front steps. And you and I agree he was not doing that. SL: I just spent some time studying more carefully all the clips I created for my analyss (many of which I didn't use in my presentation) and I will grant you this much: I now agree with you that Baker's initial path -- had he not veered right -- is very close to what is shown in the animated GIF you posted. He would have hit the outside wall of the TSBD right between the east side of the steps and the mailbox area. Again, had he not veered right. AF: I'm afraid the idea that he "veered right" after running straight in the direction of the mailboxes not only has no basis in common sense, it also has the demerit of having zero visual evidence-------zero-------in its favor. No crosswalk; no "process of veering right". Just Officer Baker leaving his bike and making a consistent beeline for the mailboxes area. In short: the idea he is heading for the intersection has no more going for it than the idea he is heading for the front steps. The directional mystery of his dash to somewhere east of the front steps has been solved. He's running to this: The mystery which now needs solving is-----------------what exactly is this?

The ball was certainly rising toward the goal. And this rising ball fact is occurring directly in front of the goal, which is perfectly consistent with the penalty kicker's never-wavering claim that he kicked the ball straight into the net.

Sorry, Mr. Larsen, but you anachronistically invented a crosswalk and built on this error by misreading the angle at which Darnell captures the gradual convergence of Officer Baker and the running woman as they head for the mailboxes area. The last we see of Officer Baker, his shadow is still progressing forward to the curb. He is not suddenly moving laterally, as you claim. The fact that we don't see him from "his butt side" simply shows that he's not heading for the front steps-----------a crucial point we are in full agreement on. Like I say, you got this right-------brilliantly right---------the first time round. All I have done is make sense of what at the time was a perplexing conclusion-------Officer Baker is running towards the mailboxes area---------by filling in the all-important context (the man standing there). And when I say that a man is standing there doing something very odd, that is not a claim or a theory, pet or otherwise. It is just an observation----------------------

Friends, by the time we lose sight of Officer Baker in Darnell, he is about to reach the sidewalk. His shadow on the ground ahead of him shows this He appears to be slowing in pace somewhat---------------------------- ---------------------------which makes perfect sense as he is about to bring himself to a stop on the sidewalk and challenge the man. I also believe Officer Baker may have just used his right hand to grab his gun from its holster while crossing the Elm St. extension. Had Mr. Darnell kept filming for a few seconds longer, we would surely be witnessing an altercation between Officer Baker and the man. It would have clarified much!

I don't think there was a crosswalk because I haven't seen a hint of such in any image from 11/22/63. Your second and third paragraphs above---------with their sudden pivot to implicit, not-actually-painted-in, 'natural' crosswalks-----------suggest you have drawn a blank too. Look, Mr. Larsen, you got the Baker-in-Darnell thing right the first time round: he's running not for the front steps but in the direction of the mailboxes. I suspect you found this unsatisfactory, because there seemed no reason in the world why he would be running there. And so you convinced yourself, via a non-existent crosswalk and a non-existent change in Officer Baker's direction, that he must be heading for the intersection. He isn't. He's just continuing to run straight for the area by the mailboxes. You established very well (via shadows) that he does not come into contact with Mr. Truly. There is some distance between them. This was great work. Now if one tunes out Mr. Truly's turning body and just follows Officer Baker and Officer Baker alone, the fact that this is a straight, uninterrupted, undeviated-from run from A to B becomes evident. It's really not complicated: There is further work to be done now in teasing out what exactly that man by the mailboxes is doing. Because, unlike the crosswalk, he is actually a real element in the scene.

What makes you think there was a crosswalk there 11/22/63?

Darnell shows that he has a nice clear run for the front steps, but he doesn't take it. Instead he chooses a clear run for the mailboxes area This would be mystifying behavior on his part if it weren't for the fact that Darnell shows that there is something most peculiar going on in the mailboxes area

No, he has a direct line to the front steps if he wants it. If he's dashing for the front steps, then Darnell shows him taking a bizarre route. If he's dashing for the east corner of the building at Elm/Houston intersection, then Darnell shows him taking a bizarre route. If he wants to go straight to the mailboxes area, then Darnell shows him taking the logical route.

His path to where, Mr. Cummings?