WFAA’s Film of the Motorcade Run to Parkland Hospital Stabilized

[James Hackerott]

Hi Guys,

  I just checked in to see the latest progress of this great thread.  You guys are awesome, Charles and James!  Now I can see how this is laid out!  Thanks so very much for all your hard work, and I know others watching this thread feel the same way.  However...there is one thing regarding my post of the aerial photo, and my addition of red arrows and such.

  Upon looking over everything, I discovered that I have the big, dark red arrow labeled wrong!  I posted the letters "RR Crossing"and am actually pointing to Stemmons Freeway, not the railroad crossing!  I have the arrow pointing to the wrong spot!  I'm truly sorry about this! Gargantuous mistake on my part.  I'm going to try to fix it and move the arrow to the proper spot.

Thank you Steve. Even if only one person gets some value from the work any effort on my part is very worth while.

[Louis Earl]

Steve thanks for reading my mind!  Wonderful photo.

[Louis Earl]

I was a teen in Dallas in 1963 and I'm very familiar with all the assassination landmarks. To me it's very enjoyable to play detective and try to figure out what is going on in these old photos.  Keep up with posts like this. 

[Steve Barber]

I agree with Steve Barber, it is about discovery. (No matter whether or not it answers any questions that you might consider critical.) Steve is the one who discovered the crosstalk in the DPD radio tape recordings and brought it to the attention of the world. So compliments from Steve about this thread are quite special in my book.

  Thanks ever so much, Charles, for the compliments. 

 I deeply enjoy very much when a group of researchers can get together, and work on projects such as this very interesting one that James Hackerott
 started.  It's been a great pleasure working with both of you, Charles and James.

[Steve Barber]

Thank you Steve. Even if only one person gets some value from the work any effort on my part is very worth while.

  You're very welcome, James.  And thank YOU for starting this thread and sharing your very clear version of the Bert Shipp WFAA footage and solving a puzzle of the mystery of the limousine on the way to Parkland Hospital! 

[Steve Barber]

Steve thanks for reading my mind!  Wonderful photo.

   LOL!  You're very welcome, Louis!  I'm glad you like the photo--and speaking of, here's the corrected version, showing the correct location of the railroad crossing which I mislabeled in the previous one. 

[James Hackerott]

I decided to make one more version of the animation using bitmap versus jpeg frames, along with removal of more blurry frames and application of sharpening. The effort paid off as this scene was not evident to me in the earlier versions.

The action NW of the Hines/Industrial intersection begins near mid frame and extends westward to the upper left of the frame. The early frames show one and maybe two cars moving NW on Harry Hines towards Parkland Memorial Hospital. Shortly, near mid frame, a police motorcycle will pass those cars as the cars come to a stop. As the first motorcycle leaves the frame a second motorcycle cop follows the same path, maybe 75 feet behind the first motorcycle. Near the end of the animation at the left side a third and then fourth motorcyclist enters, about 75 feet behind the second motorcycle. At the scale of the animation the motorcycles policemen appear little more than black dots. The animation will repeat after a three second delay.


I wonder if the Hines/Industrial intersection was yet under police control. Here are the police radio logs taken from JFK First Day Evidence (Gary Savage):
Police Radio Logs Excerpts

Channel I
p387-388
12:34:25   Disp   Report to Inwood and Stemmons and cut all traffic for the ambulance headed to
         Parkland. Code 3
12:34:32   (24)   Inwood and Stemmons?
12:34:35   Disp   Inwood and Stemmons, where they come off Stemmons, going to Parkland.
12:34:40   (24)   10-4
12:34:43   Disp   Make your assignment Code, 24
12:34:45   (24)   10-4
12:35:38   Ch2Disp   Attention all emergency equipment. Attention all emergency equipment. Do not
         use Industrial Boulevard..Do not use Industrial Boulevard. 12:36
12:36:36   (Disp)   ..Inwood and Stemmons and assist 24...21., go up there to Hines and cut that
         service road off there where that ambulance can go on to Parkland.

And on Channel II
p406-407
12:35      (15-2)   (The) Captain advises, have all emergency traffic use some route besides
         Industrial. Have 283 cut the traffic at Hines and Industrial.
12:35   Disp   10-4. 283 cut traffic, Hines and Industrial. 283, cut traffic Hines and Industrial.
(then using simultaneous broadcast)
12:36   Disp   Attention all emergency equipment...Attention all emergency equipment...Do not
         use Industrial Boulevard, 12:36
12:36      (220)    Where do you want traffic cut in that area [Parkland]?
      Disp   Keep all traffic out of the emergency entrance to Parkland Hospital, and all
         emergency equipment off of Industrial Boulevard.
      (125)   We have the emergency entrance secure at Parkland.
12:37   Disp   10-4, 125, 12:37

[Charles Collins]

I decided to make one more version of the animation using bitmap versus jpeg frames, along with removal of more blurry frames and application of sharpening. The effort paid off as this scene was not evident to me in the earlier versions.

The action NW of the Hines/Industrial intersection begins near mid frame and extends westward to the upper left of the frame. The early frames show one and maybe two cars moving NW on Harry Hines towards Parkland Memorial Hospital. Shortly, near mid frame, a police motorcycle will pass those cars as the cars come to a stop. As the first motorcycle leaves the frame a second motorcycle cop follows the same path, maybe 75 feet behind the first motorcycle. Near the end of the animation at the left side a third and then fourth motorcyclist enters, about 75 feet behind the second motorcycle. At the scale of the animation the motorcycles policemen appear little more than black dots. The animation will repeat after a three second delay.


I wonder if the Hines/Industrial intersection was yet under police control. Here are the police radio logs taken from JFK First Day Evidence (Gary Savage):
Police Radio Logs Excerpts

Channel I
p387-388
12:34:25   Disp   Report to Inwood and Stemmons and cut all traffic for the ambulance headed to
         Parkland. Code 3
12:34:32   (24)   Inwood and Stemmons?
12:34:35   Disp   Inwood and Stemmons, where they come off Stemmons, going to Parkland.
12:34:40   (24)   10-4
12:34:43   Disp   Make your assignment Code, 24
12:34:45   (24)   10-4
12:35:38   Ch2Disp   Attention all emergency equipment. Attention all emergency equipment. Do not
         use Industrial Boulevard..Do not use Industrial Boulevard. 12:36
12:36:36   (Disp)   ..Inwood and Stemmons and assist 24...21., go up there to Hines and cut that
         service road off there where that ambulance can go on to Parkland.

And on Channel II
p406-407
12:35      (15-2)   (The) Captain advises, have all emergency traffic use some route besides
         Industrial. Have 283 cut the traffic at Hines and Industrial.
12:35   Disp   10-4. 283 cut traffic, Hines and Industrial. 283, cut traffic Hines and Industrial.
(then using simultaneous broadcast)
12:36   Disp   Attention all emergency equipment...Attention all emergency equipment...Do not
         use Industrial Boulevard, 12:36
12:36      (220)    Where do you want traffic cut in that area [Parkland]?
      Disp   Keep all traffic out of the emergency entrance to Parkland Hospital, and all
         emergency equipment off of Industrial Boulevard.
      (125)   We have the emergency entrance secure at Parkland.
12:37   Disp   10-4, 125, 12:37

Wow James, excellent work as usual!  I think you have nailed it. It does appear that perhaps some traffic not associated with the motorcade had to pull over to the side and let the escort motorcycles (and I imagine the motorcade followed) go by. It might be true that the intersection wasn’t secured. Because after all, the original planned route didn’t include going to Parkland. Very exciting to see this with better clarity. Thanks!