The Oswald Transfer: Fritz Looks at Ruby Before Bringing Oswald Out

[Gil Jesus]

Before they emerge from the jail office with Oswald, Lt. Richard E Swain and Capt. J.Will Fritz of the Dallas Police step out into the basement to see if it's "all set" to proceed. Fritz looks in only one direction, the direction of Jack Ruby, then turns to his left and nods for Jim Leavelle and L.C. Graves to bring out the prisoner. Det. L.D. Montgomery is behind Oswald to make sure the handcuffed Oswald "does not escape" the fate that awaits him.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Gil Jesus

[Joe Bauer]

Gil, I just watched this clip 10X.

Every time I do I feel just as sick with angry suspicion and outrage as the morning I saw this live on national TV myself at the age of 12 on 11,24,1963.

So many absurdly blatant and obvious security lapses a rational observer is "forced" to consider Oswald's killing by Ruby as a set up more than just ignorant incompetence negligence.

Just off the top of my head I can immediately see at least a dozen major lapses!

One's an idle thought teenager could have recognized.

In no order:

That runway from the elevator door entrance to the waiting transport car and press crowd is very tight and short and with 15 or more men lined side by side there already very crowded.

With the hallway/walkway already packed with police and you have another dozen ( or two?) frantic newsmen pressing forward like they were it looked like Oswald's security march goal was mostly just to keep a clear path for them to get Oswald into any vehicle at all.

Also, the parked car at the bottom of the tightly filled ramp was just another blocking-in impediment that made everything even more closed in.

There was really hardly any room for Oswald's security to pull Oswald back into a secure safe area in case something occurred there.

And no one even thought about putting up a simple theater event rope or police tape barrier to keep the expectedly aggressive press from surging so close to Oswald?

Or how about Sergeant Patrick Dean and a couple of his men physically positioning themselves between Oswald and the surging press crowd? 

Were was Dean when Ruby jumped out?

A crowd barrier of any kind might have provided just enough of a physical impediment to slow Ruby's leap and run towards Oswald. Maybe enough time for Oswald's two side escorts Leavelle and Graves and other personnel to block Ruby's frontal charge?

Even I as a 12 year old, immediately noticed Oswald seeming to be too wide open "in front" during that perp walk. 

And his side guards also seemed much more visually looking not at the press crowd to their left, but more straight ahead at the parked car.

Leavelle only turned his attention to his left after Ruby had already made it to within inches of Oswald. 

I knew even then Oswald was perhaps the most threatened criminal suspect in American history. Yet, Oswald seemed less tightly guarded than Buffalo Bob and Howdy Doody whom I had seen once at an appearance.

I thought Oswald would have been ( should have been ) tightly surrounded all around by physical human body protection. Not just at his sides.

Seeing this clip again, we also clearly see how close Ruby was to his long time close DPD police officer friend big William "Blackie" Harrison.

Ruby was just inches next to Harrison as he began his charge out to Oswald.

Another "lucky" circumstance for Ruby? He had the huge bulky body of his friend Harrison to hide behind right up until his charge.

And didn't officer Harrison look at anywhere else but straight ahead toward Oswald as Oswald was coming toward him?

What was Harrison's reason for being in the front of the press crowd in the first place anyway?  Security...right?

One rationally must assume he was placed there to keep the crowd back and maybe even look back at the crowd occasionally especially when Oswald was feet away?

Was "anybody" watching the press crowd while Oswald was being led right to it?

Captain Will Fritz seemed strangely out of it in his drifting ahead walk away from Oswald during Oswald's march down the hallway. He gazes almost emptily at the car ahead instead of the crowd and Oswald and waves his hands about at imaginary figures as if to clear them away from the car?

And when Ruby's gun fired with the loudness of a cannon shot, everyone in the pics of the scene jumped with startled shock.

Everyone but the "out-of-it" Fritz. It took Fritz a second or two to even show "any" reaction to the BOOM shot!

There should have been a line of press crowd blocking officer's, especially when Oswald was just feet away from them.

Where were they? Officer Patrick Dean ( the uniform police squad leader ) was up the ramp?

I noticed also in this viewing that there was more time between Ruby first bursting out from the press line and his getting as close to Oswald as he did than I had noticed before.

Ruby had a few feet of distance to cover, and he had to circle out a little to come in towards Oswald's front. He had come from Oswald's left side. His foot steps shuffling was more than just one or two steps only.

I think officers Levealle and L.C. Graves didn't react as quickly as they have claimed they did.

What a crazily cramped physical scene situation that was. Tight hallway, too many people for the space provided, cars blocking the exit ramp in case of an emergency, bad lighting inside that garage.

And throw in a "publicly announced" general time frame of the Oswald transfer move to boot.

Great security job protecting the most threatened ( and most important ) criminal suspect in America's history there DPD Chief Curry.

And for dismissing many warnings from others regards the risk of such a broad daylight transfer plan instead of an unannounced one in the natural cover of nighttime darkness.

The greatest criminal suspect security lapse failure in American history...and no one got fired for it  !!! ???

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Jonathan Cohen]

4 hours ago, Gil Jesus said:

Fritz looks in only one direction, the direction of Jack Ruby, then turns to his left and nods for Jim Leavelle and L.C. Graves to bring out the prisoner.

So what? Were you wanting him to stop and survey the entire room? As usual, you are imagining some nefarious deeper meaning when in fact there is none there.

[Gil Jesus]

45 minutes ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

So what? Were you wanting him to stop and survey the entire room? 

Yes that's what a police officer would do if he were protecting his prisoner. Especially since police had received death threats against Oswald, he would have made sure the car was in position and scanned the immediate area for persons not belonging there. He would have done this BEFORE he brought the prisoner out and exposed him to the crowd. 

He would have had side escorts present in the event anyone tried to move toward the prisoner. Oswald would have been surrounded and protected from any attack. In addition, Fritz lied to the Commission and told them the car they were using to transport Oswald was in position ( 4 H 243 ) when it was clearly not. 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Gil Jesus

[Gerry Down]

It was Sergeant Deans job to have secured the area, not Will Fritz. 

Will Fritz assumed Sergeant Dean had already secured the area when he walked out ahead of LHO. 

[Gil Jesus]

1 hour ago, Joe Bauer said:

Gil, I just watched this clip 10X.

Every time I do I feel just as sick with angry suspicion and outrage as the morning I saw this live on national TV myself at the age of 12 on 11,24,1963.

So many absurdly blatant and obvious security lapses a rational observer is "forced" to consider Oswald's killing by Ruby as a set up more than just ignorant incompetence negligence.

Just off the top of my head I can immediately see at least a dozen major lapses!

One's an idle thought teenager could have recognized.

In no order:

That runway from the elevator door entrance to the waiting transport car and press crowd is not that large or long and with 20 or more men lined side by side there already very crowded.

With the hallway/walkway already packed with police and you have another 2 dozen frantic newsmen pressing forward like they were it looked like Oswald's security would have had to fight just to keep a clear path for them to get Oswald into any vehicle at all.

Also, the parked car was a blocking in impediment that made everything even more closed in.

There was no room for Oswald's security to pull Oswald back into a secure safe area in case something occurred there.

And no one even thought about putting up a simple theater event rope or police tape barrier to keep the expectedly aggressive press from surging so close to Oswald?

A crowd barrier rope might have provided just enough of a physical impediment to slow Ruby's leap and run towards Oswald. Maybe enough time for Leavelle and Oswald's other guard to block Ruby's charge?

As even I at 12 years old, immediately noticed Oswald seeming wide open to his front in that perp walk. I remember feeling that was just too open, even in my young kid common sense.

His side guards also seemed much more visually looking not at the press crowd to their left, but more straight ahead at the parked car.

 

 

 

 

Joe, in their defense, the camera lights were so bright, you couldn't see anything. That's why in the photos, they're all looking straight ahead as Ruby steps out. Even the reporters are not looking at Ruby. Curry never should have allowed the press to be in the basement just like he never should have allowed the press to mob the hallways. That alone posed a hazard that was life threatening in the event of a fire.

You're right about Oswald being wide open from the front and the sides, but isn't that what they did two days earlier to Kennedy ? Led him into an ambush after reducing his side motorcycle escorts and moving them back to the rear quarters of the limousine ?

Anytime they moved Jack Ruby, they provided him with side escorts. Why not Oswald ?

The police wanted Oswald dead. From the time of his arrest in the Texas Theater, he was a dead man.

There was a conspiracy to kill Oswald involving Chief Curry, Capt. Fritz, Lt. Woodrow Wiggins and Jack Ruby.

I'll explain why I believe this in a thread I'll be posting this coming weekend.

Stay Tuned.

Edited February 15, 2023 by Gil Jesus

[Charles Blackmon]

20 minutes ago, Gerry Down said:

It was Sergeant Deans job to have secured the area, not Will Fritz. 

Will Fritz assumed Sergeant Dean had already secured the area when he walked out ahead of LHO. 

Excuses excuses

[Jonathan Cohen]

1 hour ago, Charles Blackmon said:

Excuses excuses

It's hardly an excuse. It's a logical, reasonable explanation for why Captain Fritz reacted the way he did.

[Tom Gram]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

It's hardly an excuse. It's a logical, reasonable explanation for why Captain Fritz reacted the way he did.

Sure, but there’s nothing inherently more reasonable or logical about Gerry’s attempt at armchair mind-reading than there is Gil’s. 

There plenty of evidence suggesting DPD involvement in Oswald murder, so Fritz glancing in Ruby’s direction and his subsequent (non)reaction doesn’t exactly work in his favor here. 

[Roger DeLaria]

Wow, it seems the protocols for basic protection where disregarded across the board that whole weekend. Kennedy, Oswald....

Ruby was pretty lucky the authorities got their act together to ably protect him. 🤨

 

[Ron Bulman]

10 hours ago, Gil Jesus said:

Before they emerge from the jail office with Oswald, Lt. Richard E Swain and Capt. J.Will Fritz of the Dallas Police step out into the basement to see if it's "all set" to proceed. Fritz looks in only one direction, the direction of Jack Ruby, then turns to his left and nods for Jim Leavelle and L.C. Graves to bring out the prisoner. Det. L.D. Montgomery is behind Oswald to make sure the handcuffed Oswald "does not escape" the fate that awaits him.

 

 

Good catch Gil.  I've never seen this pointed out before.

[Gil Jesus]

14 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

It was Sergeant Deans job to have secured the area, not Will Fritz. 

Will Fritz assumed Sergeant Dean had already secured the area when he walked out ahead of LHO. 

It may have been Dean's job to secure the basement, but Fritz didn't assume anything.

Fritz entered the basement to check to see if it was OK before bringing out Oswald.

Why did Fritz nod to bring out Oswald before the car was in position ?

Why did Fritz lie to the Commission that the car was already there ?

If Fritz assumed the basement was secure, why didn't they just bring Oswald out without checking first ?

No, Fritz didn't assume anything.

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Gil Jesus

[Denny Zartman]

The two honks from the car horn is a dead giveaway too.

[Joe Bauer]

17 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

It was Sergeant Deans job to have secured the area, not Will Fritz. 

Will Fritz assumed Sergeant Dean had already secured the area when he walked out ahead of LHO. 

Then Sergeant Dean was responsible for Ruby breaching the press crowd and not being noticed and removed. And Fritz and especially Chief Curry were over-all responsible for Dean and everyone else assigned with Oswald's security. 

100 million+ American's watched the "ultimate" Oswald security failure happen right in front of their eyes.

Including every member of our government and military like Nicholas Katzenbach. I am sure most of them reacted with disturbed gut-wrenching shock, suspicion and fist pounding on tables anger.

Weren't there immediate demands by our highest rank and position leaders for firings of those responsible for this impossibly improbable JFK truth destroying failure? And for a massive "independent" investigation of the DPD?

You would rationally expect every government agency and every major news media including TV and Newspaper corporations to have gone all out in that regards.

NBC television went bananas on Jim Garrison. Oswald's killing while inside the Dallas PD building should have garnered at least as much investigation attention and effort, no?

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

The car horn honks?

Everything involved with that overly crowded basement circus was illogically suspicious so maybe the honks were too.

However, I could understand the driver of the backing up car honking a couple of times to give all the busy and occupied personnel behind him on the ramp some type of physical warning to get out of the way?