Testimony of Clyde A. Haygood was taken at 9:15 a.m., on April 9, 1964,
in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan and
Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. David W. Belin, assistant counsel
of the President's Commission.
Mr. BELIN. Would you stand and raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I do.
Mr. BELIN. Would you please state your name.
Mr. HAYGOOD. Clyde A. Haygood.
Mr. BELIN. What is your occupation?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Dallas police officer, solo motorcycle section.
Mr. BELIN. How old are you?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Thirty-two.
Mr. BELIN. Born in Texas?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Go to school here in Texas?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. How far did you get through school?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Finished high school.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Went into the service.
Mr. BELIN. What branch?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Air Force.
Mr. BELIN. How long?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Four years to the day.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do in the Air Force, generally?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Ground crew chief, flight engineer.
Mr. BELIN. Do you have an honorable discharge?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do when you got out of the Air Force?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Went to work for the Dallas Police Department.
Mr. BELIN. What year was that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. 1955.
Mr. BELIN. You have been with them ever since?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Other than 11 months in which I left the department.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do in that 11 months?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Went into a business of my own.
Mr. BELIN. Then went back to the department?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Were you on duty on November 22, 1963?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. What was your assignment that day?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Solo motorcycle officer on escort of the Presidential
motorcade.
Mr. BELIN. You started with the motorcade at Love Field?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Went through town with him?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where were you riding as you went through town?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Riding to the right rear of the Presidential car.
Mr. BELIN. How many cars back, if you remember?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Well, it varied. It would be hard to say as to how many
cars back.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember whether Officer M. L. Baker was riding?
Mr. HAYGOOD. He was riding in front of me.
Mr. BELIN. So you would be riding several cars back, generally, from
the President's car, is that correct?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear any shots at all?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where were you when you heard the shots?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I was on Main Street just approaching Houston Street.
Mr. BELIN. How many shots did you hear?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Three.
Mr. BELIN. Were the three spaced equally distant?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No.
Mr. BELIN. Go ahead.
Mr. HAYGOOD. No.
Mr. BELIN. Was one more close than the other one?
Mr. HAYGOOD. The last two were closer than the first. In other words,
it was the first, and then a pause, and then the other two were real
close.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do after you heard the sounds?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I made the shift down to lower gear and went on to the
scene of the shooting.
Mr. BELIN. What do you mean by the scene of the shooting?
Mr. HAYGOOD. There on Main Street.
Mr. BELIN. On Main Street?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I am sorry, on Elm Street.
Mr. BELIN. What position of Elm Street?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Be just west of Houston Street.
Mr. BELIN. By the scene of the shooting, do you mean the place where
you believed the President's car was when the bullets struck?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do when you got there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. When I first got to the location there, I was still on
Houston Street, and in the process of making a left turn onto Elm
Street I could see all these people laying on the ground there on Elm.
Some of them were pointing back up to the railroad yard, and a couple
of people were headed back up that way, and I immediately tried to jump
the north curb there in the 400 block, which was too high for me to get
over.
Mr. BELIN. You mean with your motorcycle?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Mr. HAYGOOD. And I left my motor on the street and ran to the railroad
yard.
Mr. BELIN. Now when you ran to the railroad yard, would that be north
or south of Elm?
Mr. HAYGOOD. The railroad yard would be located at the--it consist of
going over Elm Street and back north of Elm Street.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do when you got there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Well, there was nothing. There was quite a few people in
the area, spectators, and at that time I went back to my motorcycle--it
was on the street--to the radio.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see any people running away from there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No. They was all going to it.
Mr. BELIN. Did you talk to any people over there or not?
Mr. HAYGOOD. In the railroad yard, I talked to one of the people I
presumed to be a railroad detective that was in the yard.
Mr. BELIN. Had he been in the yard before or not?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No. He was just coming into the area after I was.
Mr. BELIN. He was coming into the area after the shooting?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did he say anything to you, that you remember?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Nothing that I remember.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I went back to my motorcycle, which was sitting on Elm
Street.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. HAYGOOD. At that time some people came up and started talking to me
as to the shooting.
Mr. BELIN. What did they say?
Mr. HAYGOOD. One stated that he had seen the President when the first
shot was fired, and that he definitely was hit.
Mr. BELIN. Did he say where the shot came from?
Mr. HAYGOOD. And I asked him about where the shots came from, and he
stated that he didn't know, that he was looking at him when the first
shot was fired, and that he slumped. And when the second shot was
fired, he went completely out of sight.
Mr. BELIN. You talked to any other witnesses there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes. There was another one came up who was located, at the
time he stated, on the south side of Elm Street back toward the triple
underpass. Back, well, it would be north of the underpass there, and
said he had gotten hit by a piece of concrete or something, and he did
have a slight cut on his right cheek, upper portion of his cheek just
to the right of his nose.
Mr. BELIN. Would he have been to the front or to the back of the
Presidential car at the time of the shot?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I don't know what you mean to the front or the back.
Mr. BELIN. When he was standing, was he to the west or to the east of
the President's car at the time of the shooting?
Mr. HAYGOOD. He would be to the south of it and then west.
Mr. BELIN. Southwest of it?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Talk to anyone else?
Mr. HAYGOOD. And at that time, approximately, well, I was talking to
him at the time this other man came up and told me that he didn't
know what it was about, but he was quite sure the shot had come from
this building there which he pointed out to be the Texas School Book
Depository Building.
Mr. BELIN. Did he say why?
Mr. HAYGOOD. He said when the first shot was fired he glanced back and
there was something in the building, he couldn't determine what it was,
but it was just something there that he couldn't explain, but he was
definite that the shots did come from there.
And after talking to him and the man that was on the other side that
complained he was hit by a piece of concrete from the ricochet at that
time, I called the dispatcher and asked for squads to cover the Texas
School Book Depository Building off.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what your number was that day?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Beg your pardon?
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what number you used for calling the
dispatcher that day?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes. My original call number is 142.
Mr. BELIN. I have here a Sawyer Deposition Exhibit A, which appears to
be a transcript of a police radio log, and I notice that at 12:35 p.m.,
there is a call from 142 to 531. 531 is your station headquarters?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Right.
Mr. BELIN. Do you want to read what you said?
Mr. HAYGOOD. "I talked to a guy at the scene who says the shots were
fired from the Texas School Book Depository Building with the Hertz
Rent A Car sign on top."
Mr. BELIN. Is that what you said?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Approximately. I don't recall the exact words.
Mr. BELIN. There was a response to you. What does it say there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. "Get his name, address, phone number and all information
you can."
Mr. BELIN. Did you do that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No, I never.
Mr. BELIN. What happened?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Because I was told to go to the School Book Depository
Building. I instructed the three different people to come to the front
of the School Book Depository Building and remain there until they were
talked to.
Mr. BELIN. You took these people that you had with you?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I did not take them, no.
Mr. BELIN. You instructed them to go there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. In front of the School Book Depository?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. And remain there until someone talked to them?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Right.
Mr. BELIN. You don't know the names of these people?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No, I don't.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know who talked to them at all?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No; I don't.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do then?
Mr. HAYGOOD. At that time I went to the School Building at the rear
location of it, which would be----
Mr. BELIN. To the back door?
Mr. HAYGOOD. North side of it, yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where that door leads out there to the dock?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes; on the northeast corner there.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do then?
Mr. HAYGOOD. At that time I talked to the colored male that was
standing at the door and asked him how long he had been there, and he
said he had been there some 5 minutes or so.
And I asked him if anyone had came out that door, and he said that they
had not.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember his name?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No; I don't.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. HAYGOOD. At that time, it was people, squads and all arriving at
the scene, and I went on into the building, which they stayed outside,
and helped them search the building.
Mr. BELIN. Anything else?
Mr. HAYGOOD. That is about all.
Mr. BELIN. Did you search the building on the sixth floor or not?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Were you there when they found the rifle?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Were you there when they found the shells?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where were you when the shells were found?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I was on the sixth floor when the shells were found. I was
still on the sixth when they found the rifle--on the fifth.
Mr. BELIN. On the fifth?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Sixth floor, rather, I am sorry.
Mr. BELIN. Where on the sixth floor were you when the shells were found?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I don't recall just exactly where it was at. It was on the
floor there, though. It was just a big open floor.
Mr. BELIN. Do you mean they were somewhere on that open floor?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hear someone say they have shells, something like
that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember who that was?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No; I don't.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do then?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Went up to another location there.
Mr. BELIN. You saw some shells there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you see them?
Mr. HAYGOOD. They were there under the window.
Mr. BELIN. Which window?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the southeast corner.
Mr. BELIN. South side or east side?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the southeast corner facing south.
Mr. BELIN. See any paper bags or anything around there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes; there was a lunch bag there. You could call it a
lunch bag.
Mr. BELIN. Where was that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. There at the same location where the shells were.
Mr. BELIN. Was there a coke bottle or anything with it?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Dr. Pepper bottle.
Mr. BELIN. See any long bags which would be a foot or foot and a half
or more long?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes; just a plain brown paper bag with tape in the corner.
Mr. BELIN. What, tape?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes; there was just brown paper tape on it. Just a brown
paper bag with paper tape. It had been taped up.
Mr. BELIN. How long was that, if you can remember?
Mr. HAYGOOD. The exact length, I couldn't say. It was approximately
rifle length.
Mr. BELIN. Would this have been right under the window, or to the east
or west of the window, if you remember?
Mr. HAYGOOD. As I remember, it was directly in the corner, in the
southeast corner.
Mr. BELIN. Well, as you remember, was the window directly in the
southeast corner, or was the window a little bit to the west of that
corner, if you remember?
Mr. HAYGOOD. The window at that location faces south, on the southeast
corner.
Mr. BELIN. About how far from the east corner of the building is the
window?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Well, it is just approximately like that, and then the
corner here. Like the window would be there, and then it would be a
corner.
Mr. BELIN. As far as the window in this room from that corner
[indicating in room]?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I wouldn't even attempt to say the approximate distance of
the window from the corner. I don't know.
Mr. BELIN. Well, if you don't know, that is what I want to find out.
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Was the bag right under the window?
Mr. HAYGOOD. It was in the corner.
Mr. BELIN. Not under the window?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No; it was in the corner of the building, the southeast
corner.
Mr. BELIN. Anything else you noticed up there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. That is all.
Mr. BELIN. Now, where were you when you saw the--when you heard a rifle
had been found?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On the floor there, best as I can remember, and I went to
that same location as the other one, just like I stated on the other
one where the shells was found.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember where that rifle was found, roughly, or not?
Mr. HAYGOOD. It was in a row of books back on the opposite corner. Be
on the west side of the building, back to the northwest corner.
Mr. BELIN. All right, anything else you remember while you were there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do after that, after the rifle was found?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Well, it still wasn't determined whether the assailant
wasn't still in the building even at that time, even after the rifle
was found, and the search was continued in the building for a while
after that.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. HAYGOOD. At that time after that I went to the street, went
downstairs to the street.
Mr. BELIN. Did you participate in any other investigation that day?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No.
Mr. BELIN. What about on Saturday?
Mr. HAYGOOD. On Saturday I was on my way to Colorado.
Mr. BELIN. So you weren't around on Sunday either?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No. On Sunday when the other shooting was taking place, I
was knee deep in snow in Colorado.
Mr. BELIN. Is there any other information you can think of, whether
I have asked it or not, that in any way would be relevant to the
assassination of the President or the shooting of Officer Tippit?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No, nothing; I was out of town.
Mr. BELIN. All right, sir. We thank you very much for your cooperation
here. You have an opportunity, if you want to come down and read this
deposition and sign it before it goes to Washington, or you can waive
the reading and signing of it and just have the court reporter send it
directly to us, whatever you want to do?
Mr. HAYGOOD. It makes no difference.
Mr. BELIN. It makes no difference to us either.
Mr. HAYGOOD. Just waive the signing. I don't know when I can get back
over here.
(Officer Haygood was summoned back in a few minutes from across the
street at the Republic National Bank Building to answer the following
question.)
Mr. BELIN. Officer Haygood, I will continue your deposition with one
more question, if you would, and you are still under oath.
You mentioned in your sworn deposition that you talked to about two
people that you saw, and you pointed it out in your transmission at
12:35 p.m., under your Call No. 142.
Is that correct?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Right.
Mr. BELIN. I notice on there another transmission at 12:37 p.m. Could
you read what the transcript has there.
Mr. HAYGOOD. Well, this part of the deposition I covered it a while
ago but I gave you, is when I called to have the Texas School Book
Depository covered there. That is one of the witnesses I had that
believed the shot came from that location.
Mr. BELIN. Could you read what you said there?
Mr. HAYGOOD. It says, "Get men to cover the building, Texas School Book
Depository, believe the shots came from there, facing it on Elm Street
looking at the building it will be the second window from the end in
the upper right hand corner."
Mr. BELIN. Did you say that?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Then the transmission made to you, 531 to 142 calling, "How
many do you have there?"
And you made a response which is?
Mr. HAYGOOD. "One guy possibly hit by a ricochet off the concrete and
another seen the President slump."
Mr. BELIN. Were there two more people in addition to the one that you
saw?
Mr. HAYGOOD. They are still the same people I was referring to back on
the transmission that I made.
Mr. BELIN. How many different people did you talk to? One that was
possibly hit by a ricochet?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Piece of concrete.
Mr. BELIN. Was he the one that saw the President slump?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No.
Mr. BELIN. Was there someone that saw the President slump, and a
third stated it was from the second window from the end in the upper
right-hand corner?
Mr. HAYGOOD. I don't recall how many it was. There was quite a chaos
there at that time.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember if there were two or more than two?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember anything about the description of the man
that said that the shot came from the second window from the end in the
upper right-hand corner?
Mr. HAYGOOD. No.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember if he was white or Negro?
Mr. HAYGOOD. He was a white man.
Mr. BELIN. Man or woman?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Man.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember whether he was young or medium or old?
Mr. HAYGOOD. That would be a guess on my part. I don't recall. He was
just a medium age.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember if he was dressed in a suit or not a suit?
Mr. HAYGOOD. Best I remember, just sports clothes. I mean, it consisted
of no tie or coat.
Mr. BELIN. Okay, thank you, sir.