10-03-2019, 03:42 PM
It probably occurs to just about everybody familiar with the Tippit mise-en-scene that Benavides must have observed the entire exchange that took place between the two men Clemons saw, as it transpired before his eyes, if only he had been there.
What's puzzling is the long history of acquiescence in the early curbside placement of his truck, at the time of the shooting, almost universal, despite a lack of corroboration.
Weisberg tackled the issue in Whitewash. He was one of the few to reckon with Guinyard's contradictory testimony. Result: outright dismissal.
What other witnesses testified that "Benavides had parked his truck across the street from the police car prior to the shooting?" None to my recollection. Also, who besides Callaway said the fugitive ran down the west side of Patton all the way to Jefferson? Patterson told the FBI he ran down the east side, corroborating Guinyard.
What about the radio tapes? Weisberg's analysis of the voices on DPD's radio transmissions went through some changes, possibly leading to the eventual conclusion that Benavides' voice followed Bowley's at 1:16. The content of this coda is "a police officer, 510 E. Jefferson," attributed by CE 705 to "some other voice." It is absurd to attribute this to Benavides who would have known the location was not E. Jefferson. Besides, assigning him to a post-Bowley transmission does not place him at the scene when the pre-Bowley murder occurred.
Attached document (Item 16.pdf) from Weisberg's repository at Hood presents the argument. It is a difficult repository to navigate systematically, vast & sprawling, but nothing indicative of a subsequent change in his thinking turned up.
To end on a happy note, "Missing Radio Transmissions," an article by William Weston, explains Hill's perplexing transmission about the ".38 automatic."
Simple & sensible, article worth reading in full.
What's puzzling is the long history of acquiescence in the early curbside placement of his truck, at the time of the shooting, almost universal, despite a lack of corroboration.
Weisberg tackled the issue in Whitewash. He was one of the few to reckon with Guinyard's contradictory testimony. Result: outright dismissal.
These are not exaggerated samplings of the many Commission witnesses. The worst is yet to come. At the scene of the Tippit killing the same was true. For example, Sam Guinyard (7H395) saw the running man "knocking empty shells out of his pistol" and reloading it in a one‑hand operation, "rolling them (the bullets) with his hand -- with his thumb." Guinyard saw this from a half‑block away (7H397). Guinyard is in contradiction of the other witnesses on the route the man took and on the closest he ever was to this man, his estimate of ten feet having been measured at 55 feet (7H398). Guinyard also testified that after a short interval during which Ted Callaway started in pursuit of the fleeing gunman, they went to the next street and about a hundred feet down it to the scene of the Tippit killing. He was there, Guinyard swore, when the truck driven by Domingo Benavides "came up." "He came from the east side -- going west" (7H398). By the testimony of all other witnesses, including Benavides, Benavides had parked his truck across the street from the police car prior to the shooting.
What other witnesses testified that "Benavides had parked his truck across the street from the police car prior to the shooting?" None to my recollection. Also, who besides Callaway said the fugitive ran down the west side of Patton all the way to Jefferson? Patterson told the FBI he ran down the east side, corroborating Guinyard.
What about the radio tapes? Weisberg's analysis of the voices on DPD's radio transmissions went through some changes, possibly leading to the eventual conclusion that Benavides' voice followed Bowley's at 1:16. The content of this coda is "a police officer, 510 E. Jefferson," attributed by CE 705 to "some other voice." It is absurd to attribute this to Benavides who would have known the location was not E. Jefferson. Besides, assigning him to a post-Bowley transmission does not place him at the scene when the pre-Bowley murder occurred.
Attached document (Item 16.pdf) from Weisberg's repository at Hood presents the argument. It is a difficult repository to navigate systematically, vast & sprawling, but nothing indicative of a subsequent change in his thinking turned up.
To end on a happy note, "Missing Radio Transmissions," an article by William Weston, explains Hill's perplexing transmission about the ".38 automatic."
I have placed Hill's examination of the shells at 1:22 because this matches the sequence of events given in his interview with Larry Sneed. [30] Furthermore, he could not have been identifying shells at Tenth and Patton, if he was preparing to shake down the church at Tenth and Crawford. He probably did not report the automatic shell information at 1:22, because the radio traffic was too heavy and he himself was too busy. The reason he chose to mention it at 1:42 was to correct what he perceived as an error. At 1:41 Patrolman H. W. Summers said that he had a witness at the scene who said that the suspect was armed with a .32 automatic. Hill called the dispatcher to inform him that the shells at the scene indicated it was a .38 automatic, not a .32.
Simple & sensible, article worth reading in full.