Paul Bentley would have been to the right-rear side.
At this point this is the first time I remember encountering any
newspapermen or cameras, but as we walked into the lobby there was a
man shooting movies.
Mr. BELIN. Movies?
Mr. HILL. He was from channel 8, but who he was, I don't know. He was a
short, rather heavy-set fellow with kinky hair. This I remember about
him.
We walked the suspect out the right front or the north door. No, wait a
minute, we have lost our directions again. We walked him out the west
door of the theatre into a squad car, which was out front. Some of the
officers that were still outside had the crowd parted back to where
nobody got to us or to the suspect.
But there were shouts at this time from the crowd of, "That is him. We
ought to kill him. String him up. Hang him.", et cetera and so on.
Mr. BELIN. Any other calls from the crowd?
Mr. HILL. Not that I can recall. There was quite a bit of confusion,
but we kept moving.
Mr. BELIN. Let me stop you right there. You mentioned that when you
were coming down from the balcony to the first floor, or in the process
of going into the first floor, you heard an officer or someone yell
something along the effect, "I've got him."
Mr. HILL. Right.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear anyone else yell or make any other statements?
First, I will ask you this. Did you hear the suspect make any statement
of any kind?
Mr. HILL. Not any distinguishable statement that I can specifically
recall. Later in the course of trying to piece this thing together for
a report, I believe it was McDonald and Hutson that stated, and we put
it in the report that way, that the suspect yelled, "This is it."
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear that with your own ears? That you can remember?
Mr. HILL. No, sir; not as a distinguishable specific "This is it," no.
As much confusion and all going on, I didn't distinguish that. Now if
we can back up a little bit to where we made the, got him handcuffed in
the theatre, before we started moving out with him, he started, Oswald
or the suspect at this point, we didn't know who he was, so we will
keep on calling him the suspect, started making statements about "I
want a lawyer. I know my rights. Typical police brutality. Why are you
doing this to me."
As as we continued to move him down the aisle out to the aisle dividing
the two sections, out into the lobby of the theatre, he began yelling
words similar to, "Typical police brutality."
And once we got actually outside the door of the theatre, from there
to the period of time that we got to the car, with all the crowd and
commotion and all, I don't recall any further statements of his until
we got in the car.
Mr. BELIN. All right, let me stop there before you testify about
getting into the car. Do you have anything else to add to the statement
prior to getting into the car?
Mr. HILL. Not that I can recall.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear the suspect say anything while you were trying
to subdue him, or, "I am not resisting arrest?"
Mr. HILL. No; I don't recall a statement to that effect.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear any officer say anything to the suspect?
Mr. HILL. About the time we got him subdued and handcuffed, I know that
Hutson asked me about did I hear the gun click.
Hutson was the one that was behind him and was pulling him backward,
off balance. He was probably, as near as I could determine from the
position, was probably the second officer to him.
In other words, McDonald made the initial contact, and then Hutson and
then probably Walker and Hawkins with Walker, and then Hawkins, in that
order, getting into the scuffle attempting to subdue him and keep him
from using the gun.
Mr. BELIN. What did you reply to this question?
Mr. HILL. I told him no. Because apparently this had happened in the
interim from the time of the first yell until I got there, and with the
scuffling of feet, unless you would be right at it, I don't know that
you would hear it.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hit the suspect at all?
Mr. HILL. No; I did not.
Mr. BELIN. Did anyone else hit the suspect?
Mr. HILL. No one that I know of. When we got him subdued, he had a
small laceration on the left eyebrow, and what appeared to be a bruise
on the upper-left eyebrow and down along his check, but an actual lick,
to see this done, I did not see.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear any police officer make any remark such as
"Kill a policeman, will you," or something along that line?