Sergeant STEELE. And the 24th, of course, the regular assignment is in
the Oak Cliff area, and I reported to that assignment.
Mr. HUBERT. Were you moved from that assignment?
Sergeant STEELE. I came to the city hall, came to the police station
downtown early that morning to pick up some correspondence, telegrams,
and things like that, to take to Officer Tippit's widow.
Mr. HUBERT. And what time was that?
Sergeant STEELE. That was approximately 9:15.
Mr. HUBERT. What happened after that?
Sergeant STEELE. Well, the captain was bringing in some of the
patrolmen from in the field, from all the stations, and I asked
Lieutenant Pierce if there was anything he needed me to do before I
left, and he said, "Well--" told me I'd better stick around for a
while. He might need me.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you do anything later on?
Sergeant STEELE. Well, I stayed there and in the patrol office for 15
or 20 minutes, and then the captain came in----
Mr. HUBERT. Which captain?
Sergeant STEELE. Captain Talbert, C. E. Talbert. He told me to come
on and go with him, and he wanted to look the situation over outside.
We walked down the stairs to the first floor where the corporation
court is located and out the door on the Commerce Street--and there
were several--they blocked those buildings directly across the street
from the police building. He told me to get a man, or get as many
people as I needed and check the buildings over there to make sure
that there weren't any doors open, or somebody wasn't concealed inside
the building. I got a patrolman, I believe it was Officer Jez. We
went over there, checked all the doors in the front. They were all
secure. We climbed up the fire escape and checked the roofs of all of
the buildings directly across from the vehicular exit on the Commerce
Street.
Mr. HUBERT. When that was completed, what did you do?
Sergeant STEELE. Not much of anything for a while. Stayed down there in
the basement for I guess 30 or 40 minutes and everything was kind of at
a standstill.
Mr. HUBERT. What time was that?
Sergeant STEELE. About the time I finished checking the buildings,
and everything, I guess it was--now, wait a minute. Excuse me. Then
I reported--after I checked those buildings, I reported to Captain
Talbert that there was a large crowd of pedestrians on the sidewalk
right outside of the vehicular route, and he--told me to get some men,
some reserve officers if I could, and move them across the street onto
the south side of Commerce Street.
Mr. HUBERT. Did you do that?
Sergeant STEELE. Yes, I got five reserve officers and took them out
there and told them what I wanted them to do. Helped them do it. Moved
all the pedestrians across over to the south side of the street, and
I stationed two of them at the corner of Harwood and Commerce, the
northeast corner, with instructions to restrict any pedestrian traffic.
In other words, not to allow them to come back to that vehicular exit,
and I put two more down at Pearl and Commerce Street, and one at the
door to city hall with the same instructions.