Roger Craig vs. Lone gunman zealots

There is perhaps no other witness to the assassination of President Kennedy more vilified by defenders of the Warren Commission than former Dallas Deputy Sheriff, Roger Dean Craig.

As most students of the assassination are aware, Roger Craig claimed to see a man who resembled Oswald, enter a Nash Rambler station wagon driven by a man described by Craig as being “a dark complected white male” – which then drove off towards the Oak Cliff section of Dallas (see here). 

Roger Craig’s account of seeing the man enter the Nash rambler station wagon was corroborated by four other witnesses. These witnesses were Helen Forrest, Marvin Robinson, Roy Cooper, and James Pennington.

Craig claimed that following the assassination, he had informed DPD Captain Will Fritz that he saw a man enter the Rambler. Craig identified Oswald to Fritz as the man he saw enter the station wagon. Lone gunman zealots from John McAdams to David Von Pein and Vincent Bugliosi have referred to Craig as a liar, with many of them boldly asserting that Craig never informed Fritz that he had seen Oswald enter the station wagon.

However, what the dishonest lone gunman zealots don’t explain is that on the day following the assassination, DPD chief Jesse Curry had informed reporters that they had information Oswald was “picked-up by a Negroe in a car”. This was in response to a question by one of the reporters on how Oswald travelled to “the other side of town” from Dealey Plaza following the President’s assassination (the film footage in which Curry makes this claim can be seen here. Go to the 5.40 minute mark).  

Now, if this information was not provided by Roger Craig, then who did provide it? Bear in mind that there were no statements or interviews provided by any of the four witnesses mentioned above on the day of the assassination. Therefore, this documented video evidence not only proves that Roger Craig did in fact inform Fritz about what he saw – but makes a liar out of Fritz and the lone gunman zealots who have accused Craig of lying.

Although Curry informed reporters that the man was a Negroe, Curry’s mistake is understandable since Craig referred to the man as “dark complected” – which Curry could have easily misinterpreted for a Negroe. Nevertheless, Curry’s comment to reporters on the day of the assassination is absolute proof that Craig was being truthful!

Now, undoubtedly, Craig did make a number of unsupportable and contradictory comments from the day of the assassination, until his death on May 15, 1975. However, taking into account the amount of depression Craig experienced after the DPD, the FBI, and Warren Commission refused to believe his story, his seemingly bizarre claims are understandable.

In 1967, after refusing to keep silent about what he had seen, Craig was fired from the Dallas Sheriff’s department by Sheriff, Bill Decker. From that point on, Craig’s life took a downwards dive. Much has been discussed concerning the circumstances surrounding Craig’s death. Many assassination researchers (including myself) believe that Craig was possibly murdered. The official version of Craig’s death is that he had shot himself with a rifle – one which he apparently didn’t own!

Craig also made claims that he had been targeted for murder. For example, Craig claimed that a few months after his testimony at the trial of Clay Shaw in New Orleans, he was shot at. In 1973, a car had allegedly forced Craig’s car off a mountain road. Furthermore, a bomb was apparently planted in Craig’s car, which had failed to explode properly when Craig tried to start the engine.

Despite what one might believe about Craig’s claims, there can be absolutely no doubt that he had informed Fritz about seeing Oswald leave Dealey Plaza in the Nash rambler station wagon. Furthermore, Roger Craig deserves to be treated with a greater amount of respect than dishonest lone gunman kooks afford to him.

On a final note, in 1960, Craig was named the Dallas Sheriff’s department “Officer of the year” by the Dallas traffic commission. For more on Roger Craig, please refer to this article.