Dictabelt Motorcycle Was NOT Part of the Kennedy Motorcade: New Sabato Book [View all]

[Bolo Boffin]

Last edited Tue Oct 22, 2013, 12:45 AM - Edit history (1)

From page 243 of Larry Sabato's new book, "The Kennedy Half Century."

New technologically advanced audio research conducted for this book on all the Dallas police recordings of the Kennedy assassination conclusively proves that the Dallas police motorcycle with the stuck microphone was not travelling as part of the presidential motorcade at the time the shots were fired at President Kennedy. Thus, the 1979 conclusion by the House Select Committee on Assassinations is wrong. Not only does the Dictabelt not prove the Committee's assertion about a shot from the grassy knoll, we can find no evidence of gunfire (on the recording) at all, and thus it cannot be used to prove that Oswald was the lone gunman or that there was more than one shooter in Dealey Plaza. Previous scientific studies have either been fundamentally flawed because of a belief that the motorcycle was an integral part of the presidential motorcade, traveling close to President Kennedy's limousine, or because of their incorrect or nonexistent identification of the officer with the stuck motorcycle.

The officer with the stuck motorcycle was in the vicinity of the Trade Mart and nowhere near Dealey Plaza. The Dictabelt does record the motorcade as it passes the stationary motorcycle.

The officer was Willie Price, who had been assigned to monitor the corner of McKinley and Harwood. After the motorcade passed him there, he was instructed to go to the Trade Mart and did so. He had been given a substitute motorcycle that morning with documented problems with a sticking microphone.

Furthermore, three of the "gunshots" are similar to nine other impulses on the Dictabelt recording. There are "no characteristics that reliably distinguish any of the impulses from the rest." These are more likely sounds from the motorcycle itself than gunshots.

The third impulse of the four considered to be gunshots by the HSCA is the one associated with the grassy knoll. There are three other impulses on the Dictabelt to which it is "nearly identical" occurring around the same time. The only reason this impulse was considered by the HSCA appears to be that it matched their timing of the Dealey Plaza gunshots.

Filtering out the sounds of the motorcycle engine make the "gunshots" disappear almost entirely.

The Dictabelt recordings are invaluable evidence of the police actions that terrible day, but the one used by the HSCA to determine conspiracy is of no use whatsoever in determining the events of Dealey Plaza.

ETA: For people interested in the forensics on the audio analysis, the white paper has been released:

http://www.thekennedyhalfcentury.com/pdf/Kennedy-Half-Century-Audio-Research.pdf