Officer J.D. Tippit

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker at the corner of 10th and Patton streets in Dallas has to say — and I'll do my best to tell it the way it deserves to be told. November 22, 1963. Dallas.

A day so heavy with history that most people forget it had more than one story unfolding inside it. Forty-five minutes. That's the gap the marker gives us.

Forty-five minutes after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dealey Plaza, something else was happening — something that would pull the entire day into a different kind of reckoning. It was happening here, at the intersection of 10th and Patton streets, in a neighborhood called Oak Cliff.

Lee Harvey Oswald had fled the assassination. He made it to his rooming house in Oak Cliff — the very neighborhood where Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit was assigned that day and was on patrol.

Tippit was traveling east on 10th Street, having just crossed Patton, when he spotted Oswald walking on the sidewalk. He stopped. Now here's where you slow down and let that moment sit.

A police officer. A man on a sidewalk. A brief conversation through the passenger window.

That's all. Whatever Tippit saw, whatever told him to get out of that car, he followed it. He exited his patrol vehicle.

Oswald fired three shots across the hood, striking Tippit as he was pulling his own gun. Then Oswald came around the rear of the car and fired a fourth shot. And then Oswald left the area.

A citizen named Temple Bowley stopped. He used Tippit's own radio to call for help. Officer Tippit was taken to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

J.D. Tippit left behind a wife and three children. But the day wasn't finished writin' itself.

Oswald appeared at Hardy's Shoe Store not long after. The store manager — a man named Johnny C. Brewer — had just heard a radio broadcast that a police officer had been shot and killed nearby.

When Oswald walked in, something about him didn't sit right. Brewer followed him. Followed him all the way to the Texas Theater, where an employee named Julia Postal called police because of Brewer's suspicion.

Inside that theater, Oswald attempted to shoot arresting officer M.N. McDonald. He did not succeed.

Lee Harvey Oswald was taken into custody. In 1964, J.D. Tippit was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor from the National Police Hall of Fame, the Police Medal of Honor, the Police Cross, and the Citizens Traffic Commission Award of Heroism.

Four honors for a man who got out of his car when something told him to. He's buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park. The intersection of 10th and Patton has changed over the years.

The marker acknowledges that plainly. But what happened here — Officer Tippit's actions and his murder at this site — set into motion a series of events that led directly to Oswald's arrest. One officer, one stop, one terrible outcome, and a chain of consequences that history is still turning over to this day.

Remember his name. J.D. Tippit.

What the marker says

On November 22, 1963, at this intersection, Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, 45 minutes after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dealey Plaza. After the assassination, Oswald fled to his rooming house in Oak Cliff, in a neighborhood where Officer Tippit was assigned. While on patrol and traveling east on 10th St., having just crossed Patton St., Tippit stopped Oswald, who was walking on the sidewalk. After a brief conversation with him though the passenger window, Tippit exited his police car, at which time Oswald fired three shots across the hood, striking Tippit as he pulled his gun. Oswald then came around the rear of the car and fired a fourth shot. Oswald left the area. Temple Bowley, a citizen, stopped and used Tippit's radio to call for help. Officer Tippit was taken to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Oswald appeared at Hardy's Shoe Store shortly after manager Johnny C. Brewer heard a radio broadcast that a police officer had been shot and killed nearby. Brewer followed Oswald to the Texas Theater, where employee Julia Postal called police due to Brewer's suspicion. There, Oswald attempted to shoot arresting officer M.N. McDonald. Tippit, who left behind a wife and three children, is buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park. In 1964, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor from the National Police Hall of Fame, the Police Medal of Honor, the Police Cross, and the Citizens Traffic Commission Award of Heroism. Although the intersection of 10th and Patton streets has changed, Officer Tippit's actions and subsquent murder at this site are remembered for setting into motion a series of events that led directly to Oswald's arrest. (2012)