JFK's dramatic forward jolt and arms flinging in Z226-232 is the second-most obvious reaction in the Zapruder film. Beginning at Z226, Kennedy's body is visibly jolted sharply forward, and the position of his hands and elbows--particularly his elbows--changes dramatically as they are flung upward and forward. The force and speed of these movements are quite startling and impossible to miss--they are even more obvious and dramatic when you view the film in slow motion.
However, government panels have consistently ignored this dramatic reaction. Why? One, because the reaction is obviously in response to the impact of a bullet or large fragment striking JFK in the back. Two, because when JFK first reemerges from behind the road sign in Z224-225, he is clearly already reacting to a previous wound as he continues to bring his hands upward and near his throat and has a pained look on his face--while he's doing this, he is suddenly jolted forward and his forearms are flung upward and forward, starting in Z226. Three, the HSCA Photographic Evidence Panel (PEP), to its great credit, admitted (1) that JFK was hit at or before Z190 and (2) that JFK begins to visibly react by right around Z200. In fact, let's read what the PEP said in their report:
At approximately Zapruder frame 200, Kennedy's movements suddenly freeze; his right hand abruptly stops in the midst of a waving motion and his head moves rapidly from right to his left in the direction of his wife. Based on these movements, it appears that by the time the President goes behind the sign at frame 207 he is evidencing some kind of reaction to a severe external stimulus. . . .
. .. it was determined that Kennedy was struck by this bullet at a time corresponding approximately to Zapruder frame 190. (6 HSCA 17, 43)
PEP member Dr. William Hartmann explained that the panel found that Willis slide 5 also indicated that JFK was hit at or shortly before Z190. Willis said he snapped slide 5 in a startle reaction to the sound of a shot. Hartmann noted that slide 5 corresponds to Z202, and that it would have taken at least 12 frames for Willis's neurological system to register and then react to the shockwave and sound of the shot and then for his finger muscles to snap the picture. "So," notes Hartmann, "that is very nice, consistent evidence that something happened, say, at 190 or shortly before 190" (2 HSCA 15).
If one is honest and credible enough to acknowledge the two sets of wound reactions in Z200-225 and in Z226-232, the simple, obvious, self-evident explanation for them is that JFK was hit in the throat a few frames before Z190 and that he was hit in the back a frame or two before Z226. This explains why his waving motion suddenly starts to freeze by no later than Z200, why he starts to rapidly turn his head from right to left while he's freezing his waving motion, why he is reaching for his throat with a pained facial look when he reemerges from behind the road sign, and why he is suddenly knocked forward in Z226.
WC apologists are still, embarrassingly, in denial about JFK's pre-Z207 reaction and about the pre-Z190 hit, but the HSCA PEP acknowledged both. Perhaps the HSCA PEP experts were influenced by the fact that the pre-Z207 reaction had already been discussed in a 1971 article in the prestigious
Journal of Forensic Sciences. The article, titled “Photographic Evidence and the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” was published in the October 1971 edition of the journal and was written by Don Olson and Ralph Turner. Olson was a professor of physics at the University of California, while Turner was a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University. I quote one short paragraph from their analysis:
As the President moves and rotates to the left, his right arm is pulled back into the car. While his elbow has been resting outside the car, it comes up noticeably at frame 195. The President’s elbow can be seen to cross the chrome strip on the side of the car at frames 198-199. As President Kennedy disappears from view behind the sign, his right arm seems to be in a particularly unusual position—the clearly visible gray of his suit coat indicating that his right arm and elbow have been raised at least to the level of his chin. (pp. 410-411)
Of course, we learned many years ago that the WC's own experts recognized that there is "some jerkiness" in JFK's movements in Z199-205, and that his right elbow "appears to be raised to an artificially high position" in Z204-205 ("Memorandum for the Record: Conference of April 14, 1964, to Determine Which Frames in the Zapruder Movies Show the Impact of the First and Second Bullets," written by WC attorney Melvin Eisenberg, 4/22/64, p. 1).
Needless to say, the pre-Z207 reaction and the Z226-232 reaction destroy any version of the SBT, especially the latest concoction, i.e., the Z224 SBT.
Another key fact about the pre-Z190 hit is that
it occurred during the timeframe when the sixth-floor gunman's view of the limousine would have been obstructed the intervening oak tree on the north side of Elm Street. This is one reason that JFK's pre-Z207 reaction generated considerable debate among the HSCA PEP members. Nevertheless, 12 of the 17 PEP members voted to acknowledge the reaction.
And we haven't even mentioned the fact that Jackie clearly starts to notice JFK's reaction before she disappears behind the road sign, and that she is staring intently at him when she reemerges into view in Z222. To all but those who are pathologically committed to defending the SBT, this proves that Jackie noticed something was wrong with JFK before Z207 and long before JFK was jolted forward in Z226.
