A US Marine trained shooter doesn't miss the entire car at a shorter distance because he was "leaning forward." That's a very wide miss at a shorter distance. If the bullet hits the road, it fragments in the presence of many law enforcement personnel in close proximity or bystanders on Elm St. The fragments do not take flight above their heads and strike Tague standing in the distance. I can't prove it and don't rely on junk science to support it, but the most obvious explanation is that Oswald tunnel visionrd the shot through the scope into the treeline and missed for that reason.
Richard, I wish this case was straight forward but I agree with Tom, and part of an earlier discussion here was about how a first shot miss could happen so close to the TSBD vs at z313. The change in angular velocity of the target was proposed as one of the key variables. Estimates based on distances and limo speed during the assassination put the angular velocity of the center of the back of the Presidents head, when near the sniper’s nest, at ~5.4 deg/sec vs ~0.6 deg/sec when around z313. JFK was nearly stationary at z313 from the sniper nest perspective, but was moving across quite quick up close. In fact, I believe that the angular velocity of a clay pigeon flying at station 1 in Skeet competition is about 5 deg/sec and that is one of the reasons they use shotguns in Skeet instead of rifles with jacketed bullets.
As far as the bullet hitting the road it could have almost gone under the limo or been close enough to the side of the limo in shadow to not be easily seen if you were focusing directly at the President and Jackie at the time or if the strike was off a direct line of sight between you and JFK. In the Haag’s testing, a bullet hitting pavement in real time self-destroys so fast it is very hard to see the impact with a small plume coming off the road, all that was left was a road divot mark.
This scenario of course can not be proven given no remnant of the bullet was recovered. However, Fay Chism had an interesting discussion with Ken Rheberg.
A researcher Ken Rheberg interviewed Faye Chism a number of years ago and posted an article about it in Lancer. This is what Ken said about Faye.
“I had a chance to speak with Mrs. Chism last week. Here is the substance of our conversation.
Mrs. Chism goes by her middle name "Faye." I believe her to be a godly woman, devoted to her family, and someone who possesses a good sense of humor even about that darkest of days over forty years ago. I was saddened, and surprised, to hear that her husband had died twenty years ago from cancer. I thought he was still alive. I don't recall hearing or seeing anything to the contrary, but then maybe I just missed it.
She said the first shot that was fired hit the street to the right of the car, about halfway between the front and back. She saw the sparks as it ricocheted off the street. The Chisms were in a good position to see this since they were only a few feet away. This story corresponds with the stories of others who saw bullets hit the street. She heard two more shots but can't place where they came from or where they hit. Following the shots, and during their run down Elm Street toward the triple underpass, they were stopped by a Sheriff. After telling him what they had seen, they were walked back to the Sheriff's Department where they were "held hostage" (tongue in cheek with a little laugh) for six hours. Once they were released, they walked back to their car which was parked up on the Stemmons Freeway.
When they first arrived in Dealey Plaza to see the President, after parking their car, they walked straight to the North Elm Street sidewalk where they were filmed and photographed at the time of the assassination.
According to Mrs. Chism, they were never behind the wall at the top of the grassy knoll at any time.”
