Thursday, November 14, 2013

50 Years Later: Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit Photos Come Home

For those who lived through it, November 22, 1963 is a date that most people will never forget. Often you’ll hear people say that they remember exactly where they were and how they felt when they heard the news: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Though that day represents a moment that touched people across the nation, it hit close to home for the Dallas Police Department and Police Officer J.D. Tippit’s family. Officer Tippit was patrolling the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas when he received an urgent message from dispatch. What had started as an average day on the job, quickly shifted to one that required him to search for the president’s assassin.

Collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum 2013.26
Noticing a man who matched the suspect’s description, Officer Tippit pulled over on the 400 block of East 10th Street to question him. The man pulled out a .38 revolver and shot Officer Tippit four times. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, leaving behind his wife, Marie, and three young children.

Less than 30 minutes later, Detective Paul Bentley followed a tip—about a suspicious man sneaking into the movie theater—that led him to the Texas Theater, where he arrested Lee Harvey Oswald. Detective Bentley thought he had arrested Officer Tippit’s killer; it was only after receiving a radio call that he learned the man in his cruiser was also suspected of killing President Kennedy.

Collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum 2013.26
This October, the National Law Enforcement Museum acquired an important piece of history—the crime scene photos (including the three shown here) of Officer J.D. Tippit’s cruiser parked on 10th Street shortly after his death.

Part of a major auction featuring items related to the Kennedy family, these simple stills manage to capture both a national tragedy and the personal loss of the Tippit family and the Dallas Police Department. They remind us of the potential for calamity that officers face as they head out on a routine patrol, as well as reinforce the importance of that effort.

Collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum 2013.26
The Museum is proud to bring these photographs to our collection. Additionally, many thanks to RR Auctions for kindly donating a portion of the auction proceeds to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Officer Tippit’s name is engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. A few years ago, fellow Dallas officer, Detective James Leavelle, visited the Memorial for the first time to see his friend Officer Tippit’s name. Detective Leavelle was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald, escorting him through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters, when Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. Mr. Leavelle spoke at the Museum’s first Witness to History event.

5 comments:

  1. This is a tragic story indeed. Did they ever find the person who killed Officer Tippit?

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    1. After Officer Tippit was fatally shot, Detective Paul Bentley followed a tip—about a suspicious man sneaking into the movie theater—that led him to the Texas Theater, where he arrested Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of Officer Tippit. Detective Bentley soon found out that Oswald was also suspected of murdering President Kennedy.

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    2. You're kiddin, right..........? How about the numerous witnesses to the shooting who talked of two gunmen who ran off in different directions. Of witnesses being badgered to change their testimony. Or threatened with a gun as Aquilla Clemmons was. Or the four or five descriptions of the assassins by different witesses. Or of Tippets bizarre actions just prior to the assassination of JFK. Wake up and smell the coffee, you've obviously been drooling on the Warren Commission report

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    3. Erm, did you read the above article? Yes they arrested the man who killed Officer Tippit. But, I'll mention it once again. Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed Officer Tippit and was seen by no less then 11 witnesses running form the scene. He was as you read from above article arrested.

      No..... Aliens, Colonel Sanders, Ronald McDonald and Grimace did not assassinate JFK. There was only one shooter and shots came from TSB and ta da....guess who it was? Yep...Lee Harvey Oswald!

      Case closed, no need to read fantasy stories.

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  2. November 22, 1963, a day to live in infamy, for all of us baby boomers. Our parents had Pearl Harbor, the depression and World War 2. This is the one big that we as baby boomers had. But it didn't stop. We had 2 other public assassinations, about 5 years later, Vietnam, Kent State and many years later 911.
    But we will never forget this date 11/22/63..I was 12 years old.

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