Cigar chomping Dallas Police Detective Paul
Bentley, the chief operator of the Dallas Police department's polygraph unit; was
one of the officers who arrested Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theater.
Two days after the
assassination Paul Bentley received a letter:
Robert D. Steel,
Commander, USNR-R
Perhaps you are aware
that ONI has quite a file on Oswald, which no doubt has been made
available on the Washington
Robert D. Steel
While we know a lot about Detcive Paul Bentley, we know very little about A. C. Sullivan, full name - Arthur Carroll Sullivan, Jr., who was in ONI 27
years, and also worked for the FBI and as an investigator for the Dallas
DA.
On
Detective Bentley is best known for his part in the arrest
of Lee Harvey Oswald inside the Texas Theatre shortly after the shooting of
Officer J.D. Tippet. According to Detective Bentleys widow, Mrs. Mozelle
Bentley of Dallas
Paul Bentley, 87, Dies; Detective Arrested Oswald
Published: July 25,
2008
Corrections Appended
Paul Bentley, the Dallas police detective who helped
arrest Lee Harvey Oswald 80
minutes after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, died
Monday at his home in Dallas. He was 87.
Jim MacCammon, courtesy of Howard Upchurch
Paul Bentley, right, with Lee Harvey Oswald in custody
outside the Texas Theater in Dallas
His death was confirmed by Gary
Mack, curator of the Sixth Floor
Museum Dealey
Plaza
When Detective Bentley hurtled over several rows in the Texas
Theater that day, Nov. 22, 1963 ,
to get to the slim man pointing a pistol at another police officer, he had no
idea that the man was Kennedy’s killer.
“At the time of the arrest, I had no knowledge whatsoever
that this might possibly be our suspect in regards to the assassination of the
president,” Detective Bentley told WFAA-TV in Dallas
But he did know that the man might be a suspect in the
shooting of Officer J. D. Tippit, who had been killed half an hour earlier when
he confronted Oswald on a nearby street some 45 minutes after Kennedy was shot.
The assistant manager of a shoe store near the theater, in
the Oak Cliff section southwest of downtown, had told the ticket taker that a
man acting suspiciously had sneaked into the theater.
“The person who saw him suggested that she call the police,
because he might be connected to either the shooting of the president or of
Officer Tippit,” Mr. Mack said in an interview on Thursday.
Detective Bentley was at a police station when reports
arrived that someone had fired on the president’s motorcade and, soon
afterward, that an officer had been shot. He went to the site of the Tippit
shooting, then to the theater.
“Bentley and several other officers went up to the balcony,”
Mr. Mack said. “Officer Nick McDonald went through the back door, behind the
screen, and stood on the stage. The shoe store manager was with him and pointed
out the guy who had been acting suspiciously. As McDonald approached, Oswald
stood up and said, ‘Well, it’s all over now.’ ”
When Officer McDonald came close, Oswald punched him and
drew a pistol. Detective Bentley raced down from the balcony.
“That’s when I tried to get as close to him as possible,
trying to grab the weapon,” he said in an oral history given to the museum in
1994. “I came over the backs of seats,” twisting his right ankle between two of
them, and, along with other officers, subdued Oswald.
Photographs of Oswald in custody show a cut over his eye. It
was caused by the Masonic ring Detective Bentley was wearing during the
scuffle, about 20 rows back from the movie screen.
Seated in the patrol car to the left of Oswald during the
ride downtown, Detective Bentley heard a dispatcher say Oswald was the prime
suspect in the Kennedy shooting. “I turned to him, and I said, ‘Did you shoot
President Kennedy?’ ” Detective Bentley recalled. “He said, ‘You find out
for yourself.’ ” (Detective Bentley's recollection is unsupported by other
existing historical records.)
Paul Lester Bentley was born in Dallas June 29, 1921 . He served
in the Army Air Forces in World War II and joined the Dallas Dallas
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, the former Mozelle
Robertson; a sister, Mildred Waldroop; a son, James; and one grandson.
Two days after the Kennedy assassination, while being
escorted through the basement of the Dallas
This article has been revised to reflect the following
correction:
Correction: July
26, 2008
An obituary on Friday about Paul Bentley, a
This article has been revised to reflect the following
correction:
Correction: August
6, 2008
An obituary on July 25 about Paul Bentley, the
The obituary also described Mr. Bentley’s role in the arrest
imprecisely. Mr. Bentley adjusted the handcuffs after Oswald complained they
were too tight; he did not snap the handcuffs on. (Another officer had placed
his handcuffs on Oswald moments earlier.)
Duke Lane: “I'd only met Paul Bentley once, and was
surprised at his having much less of a gruff demeanor (and being much more soft
spoken) than I'd have expected from his cigar-chomping photo in front of the
Texas Theater. Of course, it was many years after that photo that I met him; he
was older, probably mellower (a grandfather a couple of times over), no longer
a cop and with an audience. In all, I found him very pleasant for the short
time I was around him.”
Bernice Moore: “Det Paul Bentley and Det.LC Graves were bro
in laws..
In another write up........Bentley's grandson related that
Bentley woud tease Graves that he had caught LHO
and that Graves let him be shot....”
J. Raymond Carroll: “Mislaid my (photo) copy of Sylvia
Meagher's index and can't find much about Bentley in the Warren Commission, but
it seems he claimed to be a hero at the time. In his Nov. 23 TV interview
Bentley claims that HE prevented LHO 's
revolver from firing. Funny that he couldn't say whether it was his thumb or
his finger that blocked the firing pin. Paul Bentley was a man incapable of feeling
pain. Nick McDonald made a similar claim, and they both claimed that the
firing pin dented the shell in the chamber. McDonald's claims to heroism (&
Bentley's as well) were severely deflated when FBI experts said the firing pin
had NOT dented any shell in the revolver.”
Dear New York Times Public Editor:
The author of your7/25/2008
Obituary for Dallas Detective Paul Bentley made a significant error in this
paragraph: Quote
The author of your
Seated in the patrol car to the left of Oswald during the
ride downtown, Detective Bentley heard a dispatcher say Oswald was the prime
suspect in the Kennedy shooting. "I turned to him, and I said, 'Did you
shoot President Kennedy?' " Detective Bentley recalled. "He said,
'You find out for yourself.' "
It seems the author was relying here on Bentley's oral history at the
There are major problems with relying on Bentley's later memory:
1. Bentley's arrest report (page 77-8 CE 2003 in Vol XX1V Warren Commission Hearings) says nothing about this conversation.
http://www.history-m...Vol24_0126b.htm
2. A check of the DPD Radio transcripts shows NO statement by the dispatcher during this period suggesting that Lee Oswald was a suspect in the President's murder.
3. Another officer in the same car as Oswald and Bentley CONTRADICTS Bentley's 1994 recollections.
DAllas Police Archives,
http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm
K.E.
I have been a faithful Times reader for 30 years, but this is by no means the first time I noticed that the Times is an unreliable source of information on the JFK assassination. In particular, Times reporters seem to consistently slant their stories so as to shore up the many weaknesses in the case against Lee Oswald. In this instance, your report gives the FALSE and MISLEADING impression that Lee Oswald did not deny shooting President Kennedy.
The TRUTH is that he denied it passionately up to his dying breath.
By copy of this email, I am asking Gary Mack, Curator of the
Yours, Sincerely,
J. Raymond Carroll
[EDIT]
The Times has already made one correction to the original Bentley obituary:
Quote Correction:
An obituary on Friday about Paul Bentley, a
And I just received this reply from the Public Editor:
Quote
Thank you for contacting the Public Editor. An associate or
I read every message. Because of the volume of e-mail, we cannot respond
personally to every message, but we forward many messages to appropriate
newsroom staffers and follow up to be sure concerns raised in those messages
are treated with serious consideration. If a further reply is warranted, you will
be hearing from us shortly. Since the Times is so conscientious about the
TRIVIAL Brand-name of a man's HAT, we might reasonably expect that they will be
at least as diligent in correcting errors/falsehoods that are REALLY
significant and that are REALLY LIKELY to MISLEAD readers of the Times.
Gary Mack's reply:
Quote
Mr. Carroll , New
York
Two of Mr. Carroll's concerns are unfounded.
First, the absence of the Oswald conversation in Bentley's report cannot be used to prove the discussion never happened. The absence may only show that Bentley did not include every detail. Second, Officer K.E. Lyon's report suggests that Oswald was asked if he had killed President Kennedy, thus confirming Bentley's oral history statement. For Oswald to have denied killing Kennedy, he must have first been asked if he had done so.
As for the transcript of Dallas Police radio broadcasts, Mr. Carroll is correct. Police dispatchers did not suggest Oswald was wanted for anything. However, someone or something must have prompted Bentley to ask Oswald about killing Kennedy, for Bentley's 1963 police report states he knew only that the possible suspect may be involved with the shooting of Officer Tippit.
Gary Mack
Two of Mr. Carroll's concerns are unfounded.
First, the absence of the Oswald conversation in Bentley's report cannot be used to prove the discussion never happened. The absence may only show that Bentley did not include every detail. Second, Officer K.E. Lyon's report suggests that Oswald was asked if he had killed President Kennedy, thus confirming Bentley's oral history statement. For Oswald to have denied killing Kennedy, he must have first been asked if he had done so.
As for the transcript of Dallas Police radio broadcasts, Mr. Carroll is correct. Police dispatchers did not suggest Oswald was wanted for anything. However, someone or something must have prompted Bentley to ask Oswald about killing Kennedy, for Bentley's 1963 police report states he knew only that the possible suspect may be involved with the shooting of Officer Tippit.
Gary Mack
And my response to
Quote
Thank you Mr. Mack for your prompt response, but I must take
issue:
[Gary Mack] First, the absence of the Oswald conversation in Bentley's report cannot be used to prove the discussion never happened. The absence may only show that Bentley did not include every detail.
[J.R.C.] Here Mr. Mack is suggesting that Bentley was not very professional when he filed his arrest report. If the suspect actually refused to deny killing the President when given the opportunity, that is an important fact. Indeed it is the ONLY important fact about the assassination that Bentley was aware of.
How likely is it that a professional officer, holding the rank of Detective, will write an Arrest Report that leaves out the ONLY IMPORTANTFACT
about the case that is within this detective's personal knowledge?
Think of Jim Garrison and the notorious Sciambra Memorandum.
[GM] As for the transcript of Dallas Police radio broadcasts, Mr. Carroll is correct. Police dispatchers did not suggest Oswald was wanted for anything.
[JRC ] Proof that Bentley's memory was
failing in his Oral History for the Sixth
Floor Museum
[GM] Second, Officer K.E. Lyon's report suggests that Oswald was asked if he had killed President Kennedy, thus confirming Bentley's oral history statement.
[JRC ] I am afraid I cannot find any such
suggestion in Lyon 's report. Even if he WAS asked about
JFK, where is the corroboration for Bentley's 1994 claim about how Lee Oswald answered
this supposed question.
[GM] However, someone or something must have prompted Bentley to ask Oswald about killing Kennedy, for Bentley's 1963 police report states he knew only that the possible suspect may be involved with the shooting of Officer Tippit.
[JRC ] This argument sounds like a
NON-SEQUITOR to me. The fact is that Bentley's police report says nothing about
the conversation Bentley claims in his 1994 Sixth Floor History.
[GM] For Oswald to have denied killing Kennedy, he must have first been asked if he had done so.
You and I both know that he WAS asked this question, but it was later, after being taken to City Hall, and we both know that he passionately denied killing the President in all his public and private statements. But the Times leaves out these denials and would now have readers believe that, before he ever got to City Hall, Lee Oswald refused to deny killing JFK when he first had the opportunity.
There is no credible basis (except an aging man's failing memory) for the highly prejudicial assertion about Lee Oswald made by the New York Times in the paragraph in question from the recent Obituary for Detective Paul Bentley.
But I am glad to see that the Times can still distinguish between a MATERIALFACT
and a TRIVIAL FACT . I see the Times has now
posted a correction to the Bentley obituary that seems to answer the many
burning questions about the brand name of another detective's HAT.
Sincerely,
J.Raymond Carroll
[Gary Mack] First, the absence of the Oswald conversation in Bentley's report cannot be used to prove the discussion never happened. The absence may only show that Bentley did not include every detail.
[J.R.C.] Here Mr. Mack is suggesting that Bentley was not very professional when he filed his arrest report. If the suspect actually refused to deny killing the President when given the opportunity, that is an important fact. Indeed it is the ONLY important fact about the assassination that Bentley was aware of.
How likely is it that a professional officer, holding the rank of Detective, will write an Arrest Report that leaves out the ONLY IMPORTANT
Think of Jim Garrison and the notorious Sciambra Memorandum.
[GM] As for the transcript of Dallas Police radio broadcasts, Mr. Carroll is correct. Police dispatchers did not suggest Oswald was wanted for anything.
[
[GM] Second, Officer K.E. Lyon's report suggests that Oswald was asked if he had killed President Kennedy, thus confirming Bentley's oral history statement.
[
[GM] However, someone or something must have prompted Bentley to ask Oswald about killing Kennedy, for Bentley's 1963 police report states he knew only that the possible suspect may be involved with the shooting of Officer Tippit.
[
[GM] For Oswald to have denied killing Kennedy, he must have first been asked if he had done so.
You and I both know that he WAS asked this question, but it was later, after being taken to City Hall, and we both know that he passionately denied killing the President in all his public and private statements. But the Times leaves out these denials and would now have readers believe that, before he ever got to City Hall, Lee Oswald refused to deny killing JFK when he first had the opportunity.
There is no credible basis (except an aging man's failing memory) for the highly prejudicial assertion about Lee Oswald made by the New York Times in the paragraph in question from the recent Obituary for Detective Paul Bentley.
But I am glad to see that the Times can still distinguish between a MATERIAL
Sincerely,
J.Raymond Carroll
Gary Mack: “As for the transcript of Dallas Police radio broadcasts,
Mr. Carroll is correct. Police dispatchers did not suggest Oswald was wanted
for anything. However, someone or something must have prompted Bentley to ask
Oswald about killing Kennedy, for Bentley's 1963 police report states he knew
only that the possible suspect may be involved with the shooting of Officer
Tippit.”
Of course, afterward any cop who "didn't realize" the potential for such a connection was clearly clueless (see Jesse Curry's book extolling the virtues of DPD's investigation). As I think Jerry Rose once put it (to the effect that), "a few minutes and a few blocks away, the connection made sense; 45 minutes later and [just?] three miles away, it wasn't so obvious."
The Times has its answer from The Sixth Floor's expert, it's not going to confuse its readers by arguing facts.
Steve Thomas notes: The only time I can remember LHO
giving this response was in response to a question put to him by Detective Guy
Rose concerning his address:
Mr. BALL. Did you ask him what his address was?
Mr. ROSE. Yes; but from there, he wouldn't tell me--he just said, "You just find out."
Mr. BALL. Did you ask him what his address was?
Mr. ROSE. Yes; but from there, he wouldn't tell me--he just said, "You just find out."
Good catch, Steve. I now realize that my email to the Public
Editor forgot to highlight the most important evidence contradicting Bentley's
1994 claim. It is of course Bentley's own arrest report in CE2003. In his
original arrest report Bentley wrote: Quote “On the way to City Hall I removed
the suspect's wallet and obtained his name. He made several remarks enroute to
the City Hall about police brutality.” AND
DENIED SHOOTING ANYBODY.
J. Ray Carroll: It should be obvious to the New York Times,
and to any reasonably objective person, that if the story Bentley gave to the Sixth
Floor Museum
But since all the other evidence is consistent with his arrest report and shows that, at every opportunityLHO passionately
denied shooting anybody, it must follow that Bentley's 1994 recollection --
complete with a dispatcher report that never happened -- is no more than a
figment of his imagination.
It is a HISTORICALFACT , and can be verified
throughout the records of the Dallas Police Department and the Warren
Commission, that Lee Oswald emphatically denied shooting JFK EVERY TIME HE WAS
GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY.
The New York Times is now trying to promulgate FALSE HISTORY by substituting confused 30-year- later memories for the official record of the time.
But since all the other evidence is consistent with his arrest report and shows that, at every opportunity
It is a HISTORICAL
The New York Times is now trying to promulgate FALSE HISTORY by substituting confused 30-year- later memories for the official record of the time.
Overview
Videotaped oral history interview with Paul Bentley -- Chief
polygraph examiner with the Dallas Police Department in 1963, Detective Bentley
was involved in the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theatre. Mr.
Bentley recorded a videotaped oral history interview on 2/16/1994 , and he also recorded a second
videotaped oral history interview on 1/22/2008 .
In addition, he participated in a videotaped panel discussion at The Sixth
Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza 4/18/2007 and gave a
videotaped lecture at The Sixth
Date 1994-02-16
Collection Oral History Collection
Object Number 1994.007.0002
No comments:
Post a Comment