Oswald took 10.2 seconds to fire all three shots.

[Charles Collins]

Correct, Little Man.

Here's something I wrote up on the subject especially for you:

David F. Powers was Special Assistant to JFK and was sitting on the passenger-side jump seat in the Secret Service follow-up car during the motorcade. Secret Service Agent Glen Bennet was sitting behind him on the rear seat and is apparently not visible in the Zapruder film.

Here’s part of his 12/18/63 statement:

"[W]e made a sharp right turn, for about a ½ block, then a curved left turn into a slight downhill grade, entering an area with little or no spectators. We were still travelling at the normal rate of speed of from 12 to 15 miles per hour when I heard a noise, similar to a firecracker, exploding in the area to the rear of the car, about 12:30 pm. Immediately I heard what I firmly believe was the President’s voice, “My God, I’m hit!” I turned around to find out what happened when two additional shots rang out, and the President slumped into Mrs. Kennedy’s . . ." [This is the end of page on the website where I found this statement.]

It's very interesting that Powers says he turned around between the first and second shots.

(Devil's Advocate: Was the second of the "two additional shots" just an echo of the [fill in the blank] shot in the echo chamber known as Dealey Plaza?

Now, if I recently misidentified virtually bald Powers as fully haired Secret Service Agent Glen Bennett in another thread, I sincerely apologize from the depths of my largish-but-ugly old "Deep State" / "National Security State" heart, and I now have some new thoughts and observations for all of you "Lone-Nutters" and tinfoil-hat JFKA conspiracy theorists, alike, to chew on.

As we all(?) know, Abraham Zapruder, having started filming the motorcade seven seconds prematurely, resumed filming at Z-133 when the limo was already, IIRC, about 100 feet down Elm Street.

Given that basic fact, in Z-136 we see virtually bald-headed Bennett oops I mean Powers looking sharply to his right, and then in Z-140 he's looking straight ahead. We don't know what he was doing before Z-133 because neither Zapruder nor Robert Hughes nor Tina Towner were filming during the critical hypothetical "Z-124", "125", "126", "127", "128", "129", "130", "131," and "132" frames.The sprocket hole and "blur" prevents us from seeing Bennet oops I mean Powers in Z-133, Z-134, and Z-135, but in Z-136, Z-137 and Z-138 it seems we can see Powers' head as it's turned far to his right, perhaps "to find out what happened" behind him half-a-second earlier at hypothetical "Z-124".

Pesky Question: Why does Bennent oops I mean Powers start tilting his head far to his right starting around Z-frame 149?

To get a better view of JFK (perhaps around the guy riding "shotgun" in front of him -- Assistant Special Agent In Charge, Emory Roberts) to determine whether or not he'd been hit by that first missing-everything shot aka "firecracker" at "Z-124"?

Devious Rhetorical Question: Is it just a coincidence that Secret Service Agent George Hickey, sitting up high on the other side of the car, is leaning over and looking at the pavement at this point (Z-149), given the fact that he reported later that he thought he'd heard a firecracker and seen its remnants float down there?

Regardless, here's a creative posit:

It James Tague down by the triple underpass who yelled out, "My God, I'm hit!" !!!

I mean I mean I mean (to borrow a phrase from Jimmy DiEugenio at the so-called JFK Assassination Debate - Education Forum), wasn't JFK, wounded in the neck and paralyzed by Oswald's second shot (around Z-222) as he was, incapable of saying anything at that point?

More likely, JBC, right?

Was Dave Powers, like so many other witnesses, confused as to what he had witnessed?

Was the sequence of events a bit jumbled in his memory?

Oh well, at least he correctly said there were three shots (the first one of which he said sounded like a firecracker) and that he turned between the first one and the second one to find out what had happened in the area to the rear of the car, so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him.

Is it just a coincidence that Secret Service Agent George Hickey, sitting up high on the other side of the car, is leaning over and looking at the pavement at this point (Z-149), given the fact that he reported later that he thought he'd heard a firecracker and seen its remnants float down there?

Can you tell us where Hickey said that about seeing what he thought was a firecracker down there? I read his report and didn’t it that in his report.

[Royell Storing]

I took a look at another copy of the Betzner 3 photograph. In this version, it appears that we can see some of the details in the shadows that are not visible in the darker version we have been posting and looking at. What seemed to me to be the right side of his face in the darker version now appears to be his right fist and the back of his head appears to be resting on it. In this version, we can see how his right arm (bent elbow) appears to be resting on the back of the back seat. If I am seeing things correctly this time, it appears to me that we can see his left ear and a sliver of the left side of his face. If so, this makes it appear that he is looking in the direction of JFK.



I am not immune to the influence of my imagination in the phenomenon of “seeing what we want to see” in interpreting some of these grainy old photos. But I do now believe that Bennett is looking towards JFK in this photo. What do y’all think?

   "What do y'all think?". You need to look at more of these badly degraded images from 11/22/63. You need practice and patience. You take what you think you see and knee jerk with it. It's like hitting a curve ball. You can Not jump at it. Take your time and let it come to you. You're falling all over yourself to determine the position of the Queen Mary in the Betzner photo, when ALL you gotta do is judge the position of the vehicle based on the LARGE Elm Street Lane Stripe. In short, you over complicate things to the point of disregarding the obvious directly in front of you. There is truth to, "If it had been a snake, it woulda bit you".

[Charles Collins]

   "What do y'all think?". You need to look at more of these badly degraded images from 11/22/63. You need practice and patience. You take what you think you see and knee jerk with it. It's like hitting a curve ball. You can Not jump at it. Take your time and let it come to you. You're falling all over yourself to determine the position of the Queen Mary in the Betzner photo, when ALL you gotta do is judge the position of the vehicle based on the LARGE Elm Street Lane Stripe. In short, you over complicate things to the point of disregarding the obvious directly in front of you. There is truth to, "If it had been a snake, it woulda bit you".

I’m not the one arguing with you over the position of the Queen Mary. And my question is regarding which direction Bannett is looking. Anyway, here is the position on the Roberdeau map showing the Queen Mary, and Betzner’s camera’s field of view (yellow highlighted, excluding the left side that is obscured by the man).

[Dan O'meara]

I’m not the one arguing with you over the position of the Queen Mary. And my question is regarding which direction Bannett is looking. Anyway, here is the position on the Roberdeau map showing the Queen Mary, and Betzner’s camera’s field of view (yellow highlighted, excluding the left side that is obscured by the man).

Your diagram is a very close match to the Mark Tyler mapping program at Z186

[Andrew Mason]

Your diagram is a very close match to the Mark Tyler mapping program at Z186

There is a noticeable difference in the position of Betzner between the Mark Tyler and Roberdeau maps.  Betzner was closer to the corner and to the curb than Roberdeau has him.

[Tom Mahon]

Is it just a coincidence that Secret Service Agent George Hickey, sitting up high on the other side of the car, is leaning over and looking at the pavement at this point (Z-149), given the fact that he reported later that he thought he'd heard a firecracker and seen its remnants float down there?

Can you tell us where Hickey said that about seeing what he thought was a firecracker down there? I read his report and didn’t it that in his report.

As luck would have it I can't seem to find that statement at the moment; will keep trying to locate it.

In the meantime, take a look at Hickey's (blurred) head in Z-190 and note how far he's leaned over to look at the pavement. Please note that he'd started leaning over and looking down by at least Z-149.

[Dan O'meara]

As luck would have it I can't seem to find that statement at the moment; will keep trying to locate it.

How are you going to locate something that doesn't exist?
Hickey never made any such statement. This is from his report on the 22nd

I heard what seemed to me that a firecracker exploded to the right and rear. I stood partially up and turned to the rear to see if I could observe anything.

This is from his report on the 30th:

After a very short distance I heard a loud report which sounded like a firecracker…I stood up and looked to my right and rear in an attempt to identify it

You shouldn't make things up. It just shows how desperate you are.

[Tom Mahon]

How are you going to locate something that doesn't exist?
Hickey never made any such statement. This is from his report on the 22nd

I heard what seemed to me that a firecracker exploded to the right and rear. I stood partially up and turned to the rear to see if I could observe anything.

This is from his report on the 30th:

After a very short distance I heard a loud report which sounded like a firecracker…I stood up and looked to my right and rear in an attempt to identify it

You shouldn't make things up. It just shows how desperate you are.

What was he looking down at from around Z-149 to Z-190, Little Man?