Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (15 of 26): Hearings Vol. XV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
And about that time someone shouted “Here he comes”, and I looked over
and saw them open the door and bring him out, and I turned and started
up the ramp to close the back door on the armored truck.
No one, nobody--the truck driver nor anyone up on the ramp knew of this
change of plans but the detectives involved in driving these cars.
Mr. HUBERT. And yourself and Stevenson?
Chief BATCHELOR. And myself, Stevenson and Chief Lumpkin. The rest of
the men in the basement were not aware of this change of plans. He
whispered this to me.
Mr. HUBERT. You realized the door had to be closed?
Chief BATCHELOR. I realized the door had to be closed and we hadn’t
told anybody to close it, so as soon as they brought him out and I saw
them bringing him out, I turned and started up the ramp to close the
door on the truck, and that is when the shooting happened.
Mr. HUBERT. Do you remember having any conversation or giving any
instructions with reference to the position of the press and other news
media on the west side of the railing that divided the ramp from the
basement?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. That is to say, the Harwood side of the railing?
Chief BATCHELOR. I don’t follow you. There is not any Harwood Street
side of the railing. The railing is on the other side of the driveway.
Mr. HUBERT. That’s right, but if you take the railing as a central
point--I will put it this way. The jail side of the ramp, does that
make sense to you?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes.
Mr. HUBERT. Which I think is really the west side of the railing?
Chief BATCHELOR. West side of the ramp; yes, and it would also be west
of the railing.
Mr. HUBERT. Were there any instructions or change of instructions with
reference to the position of the press relative to the railing?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes, sir; Chief Curry earlier, when we had come down
there and looked the situation over, had instructed that we keep all
the press on the inside of the railing of the ramp. That would be east
of the railing.
Mr. HUBERT. On the garage side?
Chief BATCHELOR. That’s right. We had also instructed that the TV
camera be moved out. I had instructed that.
Mr. HUBERT. Moved out of the vestibule or corridor? Chief Batchelor.
Between the time Chief Curry had come down with Stevenson and me and
the time I came to the basement the last time they had moved two TV
cameras in behind the railing where the press was to stand.
They also had one TV camera which was on the other side of the post at
the railing on the little ramp that goes down into the garage proper.
This camera, as I recall it, was inoperative.
Mr. HUBERT. Wasn’t connected up?
Chief BATCHELOR. Wasn’t connected up. So later when I came down there,
there actually was not room for the press behind that railing. It was
all taken up with TV cameras. And they were scattered out along the
driveway across the ramp that goes into the garage proper, the little
short ramp that runs east and west into the garage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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