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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. XII - Page 12« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Assistant Chief Charles Batchelor)

Mr. Griffin.
Do you recall what TV stations had cameras up there at that time?
Chief BATCHELOR. It was KRLD and WFAA, if I remember right. And I could be mistaken about the WFAA. It could have been WBAP.
Mr. Griffin.
How do you happen to remember KRLD?
Chief BATCHELOR. They were the first ones in there and they had their truck parked outside. And also, I am pretty sure it was WFAA, because WFAA had a truck parked on the Harwood Street side.
Mr. Griffin.
Were you able to tell at 8 o'clock in the morning if they were shooting footage?
Chief BATCHELOR. I couldn't tell. All the time that I remember, they had these little viewers in the back of the thing and you could see through them and see what was going on through them, look through the camera. Whether they were shooting footage, there wasn't anything to shoot that morning. It was pretty quiet.
Mr. Griffin.
Now, the second trip when you came back upstairs after your first trip downstairs, where did you go?
Chief BATCHELOR. After the first trip, I came back up to again get in touch with Mr. Stevenson and tell him.
Mr. Griffin.
Fleming?
Chief BATCHELOR. Fleming, I mean, and tell him what the height of that thing was. Then he told me, well, I will Just send both trucks down there and you can take the one you want.
Mr. Griffin.
This second phone call, was Mr. Fleming at home?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes, sir.
Mr. Griffin.
Do you know whether Fleming had been contacted by anyone in your office or Decker's office or anybody else prior to your first phone call to him?
Chief BATCHELOR. I would think not. He couldn't, because this was his first knowledge of it.
Mr. Griffin.
Could you tell us what else you said to him? What else this conversation involved?
Chief BATCHELOR. I don't recall saying anything other than expressing our appreciation for his help. And he said he would send both of the trucks down. I told him how to bring the trucks. I told him to bring them east on Harwood--I mean on Commerce Street, and that we would back it down the ramp so that we would be leaving the ramp in the right direction when they pulled out.
Mr. Griffin.
Up to the time that you had this second conversation with Fleming, had you discussed with anybody the route by which you would take Oswald to the county jail?
Chief BATCHELOR. Nobody but Chief Curry, that I recall, and probably Chief Stevenson. As a matter of fact, this route that they were to take was worked out more between Stevenson and Curry and Fritz than it was with me. My primary Job here was to get the truck and get the cars placed, and it was decided that Chief Curry would lead the car down there, followed by a car of detectives, and then the armored car, and then followed by another car of detectives, and then followed by Stevenson and I in a rear car.
Mr. Griffin.
This planned route of the movement was to go from Commerce to Central Expressway, left to Elm Street, then down Elm Street?
Chief BATCHELOR. To Houston; yes, sir.
Mr. Griffin.
Now as a result of that decision, were any cars or officers called in from the field?
Chief BATCHELOR. Yes.
Mr. Griffin.
Who?
Chief BATCHELOR. Talbert called his officers in. He had called and scattered them up. And then there was some discussion about taking it down Main Street, and I am not too sure where I got this information, but anyway, he

sent a sergeant and moved those officers over a block to Main Street.
Mr. Griffin.
Why was the route changed?
Chief BATCHELOR. Well, I don't know. The route was changed without my knowing it, really. When they decided to take Oswald in an automobile instead of the armored car.
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