Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you report to the jail or the police department on
Sunday, November 24?
Mr. CROY. Yes; I did.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About what time did you come in, do you recall?
Mr. CROY. No; I don't.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Well, your letter of November 26 indicates you came in at
8:35?
Mr. CROY. That is probable.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, sometime after you came in, you were assigned to
guard a particular area of the basement; is that correct?
Mr. CROY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Would you tell us what you were assigned to do?
Mr. CROY. When I came into the city hall, I went to the assembly room,
and that is where any initial assignments are made, in the assembly
room, making up the muster and the roster of the reserve officers that
arrived.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long did you remain there?
Mr. CROY. Well, I was in and out of there, between there and the
basement.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long did you remain on that duty?
Mr. CROY. I never was relieved from that duty. I went in there, but I
never was relieved from it.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, you have stated in your letter to Chief Curry of
November 26, 1963, in paragraph 3, "I was assigned to the basement and
jail office entrance, and my assignment was that of a guard."
Mr. CROY. Well, that was in the entire thing down there is
what--everyone in the basement was considered a guard at the same time,
if you are standing in front of the entrances, elevators, or in the
back of the basement.
Mr. GRIFFIN. So you never had any particular station of duty there?
Mr. CROY. No. I wasn't just assigned a spot and told to stay there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, did there come a time when you stationed yourself at
the foot of the Main Street ramp in the basement?
Mr. CROY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. About when was that? For how long before Oswald came out,
would you estimate?
Mr. CROY. Well, I couldn't really estimate, because it has been almost
4 months ago and I don't really know how long it was.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Well, when you took up your position at the base of the
ramp, had the armored car arrived?
Mr. CROY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. The armored car was already there? You weren't there at
any time when the armored car was not there?
Mr. CROY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right. Can you give us any statement of how long you
were there? Were you there for 2 minutes prior to the time Oswald came
down?
Mr. CROY. I was longer than that.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Were you there 15 minutes?
Mr. CROY. I couldn't say. I don't remember whether I was.
Mr. GRIFFIN. You think you were there as long as 5 minutes?
Mr. CROY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How about as long as 10 minutes?
Mr. CROY. I couldn't say that.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did you remain in one general area when you stationed
yourself at the bottom of the Main Street ramp?
Mr. CROY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. How did you come to be stationed at that position?
Mr. CROY. There was another officer, a regular officer, I believe,
commented that they needed at least three more officers at that
particular position.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall who that regular officer was?
Mr. CROY. No; I don't. I don't even know who he was. I just remember
there was a regular officer, supervisory officer in uniform stated they
needed at least three more.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Did he state this to you personally, or were you in a
group at that time?
Mr. CROY. I was just standing out there on this ramp leading into
the basement where the two ramps lead down into the basement, and he
stepped out there, and as well as I remember, just made a quick check
and pointed out that he needed at least three men at that location.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Well, from the time that you finished doing your clerical
work when you first came in, until you all were ultimately stationed
at the base of the Main Street ramp, did you have any particular
responsibilities?
Mr. CROY. Yes. There were several reserve officers that were coming
right directly into the basement, and the first reported to the
assembly room to get their assignments or be told what to do.
I would take these men and take them in there and get them mustered in
on the roster so we would know they were there and have a record.
I would either tell them where to report, or take them to a certain
station and station them there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right, do you recall if you were in the basement when
Captain Jones was there?
Mr. CROY. No; I don't.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall if you were in the basement when a group
of regular police officers, detectives and so forth came into the
basement from the public elevators that go up into the police building,
and walked through the swinging door and were given assignments by a
regular officer of some sort? Were you there at that time?
Mr. CROY. I don't guess I was; I don't recall it at all.
Mr. GRIFFIN. All right. Now, while you were stationed at the base of
the Main Street ramp, do you recall if you saw any cars go in and out
of the basement?
Mr. CROY. There was one.
Mr. GRIFFIN. You saw one car?
Mr. CROY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, during the period that you were in the basement
generally before you were stationed at the ramp, did you see any cars
go in and out of the garage or basement area?
Mr. CROY. Yes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Can you describe how much traffic there was?
Mr. CROY. No. There wasn't any squads bringing prisoners in, that I
recall. I don't recall any of that.
I recall one car leaving, going up the south ramp, one car that I know
of, because I knew who was in that car.
And other than that one and the one that went up the north ramp, I
don't recall any other cars going out of the basement area. There could
have been.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Now, how much before you saw that one last car go up the
Main Street ramp, how long would you say you had been in the basement?
How long before that had you been at your station in the basement?
Mr. CROY. What do you mean?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Let me start over again. How long had you been at this
station which you had at the base of the Main Street ramp prior to the
time that the last car went up the Main Street ramp?
Mr. CROY. How long had I been in the basement before then?
Mr. GRIFFIN. How long had you been in the general area at the base of
the ramp? Continuously?
Mr. CROY. I don't know, I guess a couple or 3 minutes, something like
that. I remember that because he nearly ran over my toes.
Mr. GRIFFIN. While you were standing at the base of the ramp prior to
the time that the car went up the ramp, do you remember whether any
equipment of any sort was moved into the basement area?
Mr. CROY. Equipment?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. CROY. Just anything moved in there?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Yes.
Mr. CROY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall any activities of newspaper people or of TV
people?
Mr. CROY. Oh, they were milling all over the place.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you recall any movement of equipment?
Mr. CROY. No.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you remember a TV camera being rolled through the
swinging double doors at the entrance, almost at the entrance to
the Main Street ramp or the bottom ramp, and being wheeled in any
direction? Being pushed, a TV camera?
Mr. CROY. I don't recall any bringing in there. They had them down
there in the basement all morning, that I remember. I don't remember
bringing in any more in there.
Mr. GRIFFIN. Where do you recall the three TV cameras being stationed
there? At this point I would like to hand you my pen and ask you if you
would mark on there?
Mr. CROY. You want an "X"?
Mr. GRIFFIN. Make a rectangle and write TV inside of it.