[[ I don't know the source of the following article - Deanie ]] ====================================================================== One element of the official story about the Tippit killing is that a series of by-standers, in turn, got into Tippit's police car and used his radio to report the killing. One version of these radio calls was summarized in an affidavit written by T. F. Bowley on December 2, 1963: [quote] .... I traveled about a block and noticed a Dallas police squad car stopped in the traffic lane headed east on 10th Street. I saw a police officer lying next to the left front wheel. I stopped my car and got out to go to the scene. I looked at my watch and it said 1:10 pm. Several people were at the scene. When I got there, the first thing I did was try to help the officer. He appeared beyond help to me. A man was trying to use the radio in the squad car but stated he didn't how how to operate it. I knew how and took the radio from him. I said, "Hello, operator. A police officer has been shot here." The dispatcher asked for the location. I found out the location and told the dispatcher what it was. A few minutes later, an ambulance came to the scene. I helped load the officer onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. As we picked the officer up, I noticed his pistol lying on the ground under him. Someone picked the pistol up and laid it on the hood of the squad car. When the ambulance left, I took the gun and put it inside the squad car. A man took the pistol out and said, "Let's catch him. He opened the cylinder, and I saw that no rounds in it had been fired. Then man then took the pistol with him and got into a cab and drove off. The police arrived, and I talked to a police sergeant at the scene. I told him I did not witness the shooting, and after questioning me, he said it was all right for me to leave. .... [unquote; CE 2003, page 11] When Domingo Benavides testified to David Belin on April 2, 1964 [6 WCH 444 ff], he added a third person using Tippit's radio. Benavides said that first he himself used the radio to make a report and then hung the microphone up. Then a stranger appeared, got into the car, and also reported the killing [pg 449]. Benavides also said that Ted Callaway got into the car and used the radio to report the killing [pg 452]. It is also clear from various testimonies that Callaway was the fellow who grabbed the pistol and got into the cab. Benavides also identifies Callaway as the General Manager of Dootch Motors, where he himself worked, and added that Dootch Motors was located at 501 East Jefferson. *********** If we examine the transcript of Police Channel 1 in CE 1974, we can indeed see a series of three citizen calls. The first is begins at the bottom of page 52 of the transcript and continues to the middle of page 53. This call accurately identifies the location as follows: [quote] On 10th Street ... between Marsalis and Beckley. It's a police officer. Somebody shot him. What's this? 404 10th Street. [unquote] *********** The second call begins immediately after that. The caller says: [quote] Hello, police operator, did you get that? A police officer, 510 East Jefferson. [unquote] The dispatcher then echoed that report as follows: [quote] Signal 19 [shooting] involving a police officer, 510 East Jefferson. [unquote] The citizen then responded: [quote] Thank you. [unquote] This second call served the purpose of sending a police officer to the wrong location, 510 East Jefferson. ************* Two ambulances apparently overheard these calls and responded. They were numbered 602 and 603. Ambulance 602 arrived at 510 East Jefferson and did not find anybody there, so the radioed for a confirmation of the address: [quote] [602] What's the address on Jefferson? [Dispatcher] 501 East 10th. [unquote] It seems that either the "510" above in the transcript is a misprint or was somehow clarified to the dispatcher through another radio channel. Then Sergeant Owens radioed in and also asked, "Give me the correct address on the shooting." The dispatcher again answered: "501 East 10th." Then ambulance 602 reported "Code 6," which meant it had reached its destination. Apparently, ambulance 602 had arrived at 501 East Jefferson Street. Then Patrolmen Poe and Jez radioed in and asked, "Is 519 East Jefferson correct?" Then the dispatcher finally straightened up the confusion: "We have two locations, 501 East Jefferson and 501 East 10th." Apparently, Poe and Jez then also drove to 501 East Jefferson. Shortly thereafter, they got back on the radio and reported: "This is an officer." Apparently, some "officer" had made that second radio call reporting the killing at "510 Jefferson," and the patrolmen had finally found him after some confusion. ************ Then at 1:19, third ambulance, 605, announced that it was also en route. Why? I speculate that ambulances 602 and 603 were futiley looking for a dead policeman on East Jefferson Street, and they therefore radioed their confusion on their own ambulance channel, so a third ambulance decided to join the search. ************ Then somebody radioed to the police dispatcher from the 500 block of 10th Street to direct one of the ambulances to the right location: [quote] From out here on 10th Street, 500 block. This police officer's shot. I think he's dead. [unquote] This dispatcher then instructed that caller: [quote] We have the information. The citizen using the radio, remain off the radio now. [unquote] Maybe this was Bowley, mistakenly thinking he was on the 500 block instead of the 400 block. ************ The confusion about the location of Tippit's car continued. Then motocycle policeman Talbert came onto this Channel 1 (bottom of page 56 of transcript) and announced: [quote] [Talbert:] I'm using a three-wheeler motor. I'll have to go to another radio. .... Didn't that citizen say first he was on Jefferson, then on 10th and then Chesapeake? [Dispatcher:] Yes. [Talbert:] Do they relate? [Dispatcher:] Yes, at Denver. [unquote] This was the first time Chesapeake had been mentioned on Channel 1. This is a clue about what was going on. It seems that some "officer" had been using a third radio channel, for which we don't have the transcript, to misdirect some policemen to himself at a different location from where Tippit's car was. ************ Finally, Patrolman Metzel seems to be the first policeman to arrive at the scene of Tippit's killing. He radios in the correct location (middle of page 57): [quote] Have a signal 19 [shooting] involving police officer, 400 East 10th. Suspect last seen running west on Jefferson. No description at this time. [unquote] A few moments later, the dispatcher instructs a Patrolman Walker to "check 501 East 10th at Denver" [top of page 58]. Then Poe, Jez, and Owens also arrive at the scene of Tippit's killing [middle of page 59] ************ At 1:23, ambulance 603 reported that it was "out, Baylor," apparently meaning it had Tippit's body and was rushing to Baylor [?]. Ambulance 602 was apparently still lost and kept radioing in. [On Channel 2, Tippit was declared dead on arrival at Methodist Hospital at 1:28.] ************ Shortly thereafter [middle of page 63], Sergeant Gerald Hill called in: [quote] [Hill:] I'm at 12th and Beckley now. Have a man in the car with me that can identify the suspect if anybody gets him, the one. [Dispatcher: Have you been to the scene? [Hill:] 10-4. The officers were already gone when I got there. He was driving car #10. .... Dudley Hughes passed in front of me going to Beckley. Looked like he might have had him. [unquote] Car #10 was Tippit's car. The rest of this is mysterious. Apparently the identifier at 12th and Beckley was Scoggins or Callaway, who told Hill that "he" [Tippit? someone else?] was driving car #10. Why was Hughes going to Beckley? Looked like Hughes might have had whom? By the bottom of page 75 of the transcript, it seems that Callaway and Scoggins have returned to the site of the Tippit killing. Patrolman Summers radios in: [quote] I'm in front of 404 East 10th right now. I got two witnesses -- the one that talked to the officer and one that observed the man. [unquote] Apparently, "the one that talked to the officer" was Callaway, and the "officer" was the person who had radioed from 501 Jefferson. Maybe they were one and the same. Apparently, "the one that observed the man" was Scoggins. -- end -- [[ 6-7-02 note from Deanie Richards. I received the following email from Ben Hoffman, concerning this file. I include it here. "Art. URL is : 03/JDT/DR/dr-radios.txt Neither ambulance (Dudley Hughes or "603") asked "Was 519 E. Jefferson correct" - That was Bud Owens (in auctual fact, is was Jerry Hill (550) riding with Bud "What was address on Jefferson" - That was Roy Walker (85) - as after Disp. says 501 E. 10th he replies "85 en route" Ben" ]]