The filthy lies of Nick McDonald

In this article, I discuss the various demonstrable lies told by DPD Officer Nick McDonald. As most researchers are aware, McDonald was the first DPD Officer to approach Oswald inside the Texas Theatre. McDonald had ordered Oswald to stand-up, after which Oswald allegedly yelled out “Well, it’s all over now” and then punched McDonald in the nose. After punching McDonald, Oswald allegedly reached for a revolver inside his belt and then tried to shoot McDonald (for a discussion of this issue, please refer to this article).

In this article, I explained that during an interview with WFAA-TV on the day following the assassination, McDonald claimed that just prior to being punched in the nose by Oswald, Oswald had allegedly shouted out “This is it”. However, in his arrest report to DPD chief Jesse Curry, McDonald now claimed that Oswald had shouted out “Well, it’s all over now” – and not “This is it”! During his Warren Commission testimony, and during subsequent interviews, McDonald maintained that Oswald had shouted out “Well, it’s all over now”.

As I have explained previously, no other DPD Officer or witness to Oswald’s arrest claimed they heard Oswald shout out the words “This is it”, or “Well, it’s all over now”. However, I had neglected to mention that DPD Officer Ray Hawkins claimed during his Warren Commission testimony that he heard McDonald shout out “This is it” – and not Oswald! The following is from Hawkins’s testimony.

Mr. Ball

He was--he [McDonald] walked over to the right aisle, did he?

Mr. Hawkins

He walked from the right aisle and came in from the person's right. I was about three rows from--still in the same aisle, on the left aisle and about three rows from McDonald and Oswald when I heard him say, "I've got him," or "This is it," or some words to that effect.

Mr. Ball

Did you hear Oswald say anything?

Mr. Hawkins

Not at that time; no, sir; I did not

As we can see, Hawkins’s claimed that he believed it was McDonald who shouted out “This is it”. Researchers such as Greg Parker have argued that McDonald was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate the President – and was attempting to plant the revolver on Oswald inside the Theatre. However, as I explained here, by all likelihood it was DPD Sgt Gerald Hill who was attempting to plant the revolver on Oswald!

In any event, if McDonald shouted out “This is it” as Officer Hawkins’s claimed, then he may have inadvertently said it to Oswald because he had known in advance that Oswald would be arrested! Perhaps McDonald’s role in the conspiracy was to provoke Oswald into a scuffle – during which Gerald Hill would shout out that he had “Oswald’s” gun as part of the frame-up. I certainly believe this is quite likely.

Given the fact that no other DPD Officer or witness to Oswald’s arrest recalled hearing him  shout out what McDonald claimed, and given the fact that McDonald initially claimed Oswald shouted out “This is it” and then claimed Oswald shouted out “Well, it’s all over now”, common sense tells us that beyond a shadow of a doubt McDonald was lying. However, do dishonest lone gunman kooks mention any of this? Absolutely not.

(Please note: During an interview with researcher Ian Griggs in 1996, Johnny Brewer, who allegedly spotted Oswald outside his shoe store looking “funny/scared” claimed he heard Oswald say words to the effect “It’s over now”. However, he made no mention of this during his affidavit to the DPD in December 1963 (here), or in his interview with the FBI in March 1964 (here, page 14) or during his Warren Commission testimony.

As mentioned previously, none of the other arresting Officers ever claimed to have heard Oswald say anything prior to punching McDonald. Therefore, Brewer’s claim to Ian Griggs was a lie.)

Let’s also keep in mind that McDonald claimed during his Warren Commission testimony that he was responsible for resolving the false alarm at the Jefferson Branch Library - following the broadcast by Officer Charles Walker on the DPD radio that he had seen the Tippit murderer run into the Library. The man Walker observed turned out to be Adrian Hamby, who worked at the Library as a Page.

The following is from McDonald’s testimony.

Mr. Ball

And did you get a call over your radio to go to a certain place?

Mr. McDonald 

Well, there was a report from the dispatcher that a suspect was seen running into the public library at Marsalis and Jefferson.

Mr. Ball

You went down there?

Mr. McDonald 

Yes, sir. I went directly to Denver Street, which is an alley at that point. It is still designated as Denver Street. I parked the squad car, took my shotgun, and went to the west basement entrance to the public library, and ordered the people in the basement, in the library outside. They came out with their hands up. The boy immediately said that he had just run into the library to tell the people that the President had been shot. He was a much younger person than what was broadcast on description on the radio.

Unfortunately for McDonald’s claim, there is no support from any of McDonald’s fellow DPD Officers in their reports or in their Warren Commission testimonies, that McDonald was responsible for resolving the situation. In fact, the following is from Charles Walker’s Warren Commission testimony concerning the Library incident.

Mr. Belin

Then what did you do? Did you go into the library?

Mr. Walker

As soon as the squads got there, I walked around with the other squads to the west entrance of the building, and we ordered everyone out of the building. They all came out with their hands up.

Mr. Belin

Was this the upstairs?

Mr. Walker

No; it is the downstairs. You had to go downstairs to get to it.

Mr. Belin

Something like a basement?

Mr. Walker

Yes. It is a semi basement, I would call it. And everyone came out, and I saw the person that had run in there, and he said that he had ran there to tell the other people about the shooting. And let's see, that he worked there, he told me he worked there and everything. I soon determined he wasn't the one

As we can see, not only did Walker fail to give McDonald sole credit for resolving the situation, but also stated that there was a squad of Officers who had ordered the occupants to exit the Library. However, the possibility exists that McDonald had simply neglected to mention that his fellow Officers were also involved in resolving the situation, and was not lying.

The obvious question is why McDonald would want to take sole credit for resolving the false alarm at the Library. In my opinion, it was because McDonald was quite cocky, and wanted to portray himself as a hero/top cop. As a matter of fact, this is demonstrated by the lies he told during his interview on the Top Cops show (see here).

During the interview, McDonald took credit for handcuffing Oswald inside the Texas Theatre. However, this was an outright lie! It was Officer Ray Hawkins who had actually handcuffed Oswald. Hawkins made this claim in his report concerning Oswald’s arrest (here), and during his Warren Commission testimony. Hawkins’s claim was corroborated by Officers Charles Walker, Thomas Hutson, and Gerald Hill during their Warren Commission testimonies.

From Hawkins’s testimony:

“……McDonald had grabbed him [Oswald] by the right hand and Sergeant Hill grabbed the gun and at this time I handcuffed his left hand. There were several officers shortly after that arrived at the scene.”

From Walker’s testimony:

“Ray Hawkins was on my left. He said, "Bring his arm around." and said, "I have the handcuffs." He said, "Bring his arm around so I can get the cuffs on him." I finally got his left arm around and I snapped the cuffs on it, and Hawkins went over the seat there and picked up, someone pulled his right arm around there, and Hawkins snapped the handcuffs on him……..”

From Hutson’s testimony:

……They were all in on the struggle, and Officer Hawkins, in other words, he simultaneously, we decided to handcuff him. We had restrained him after the pistol was taken, but he was still resisting arrest, and we stood him up and I let go of his neck at this time and took hold of his right arm and attempted to bring it back behind him, and Officer Hawkins and Walker and myself attempted to handcuff him. At this time Sgt. Jerry Hill came up and assisted as we were handcuffing…..

From Hill’s testimony:

…..I said, "Let's handcuff him." And being that I was working in plainclothes and working in personnel didn't have a pair of handcuffs, and I asked Hawkins if he had. And he said, "Yes." And I said, "Let's get them." And Hawkins and I handcuffed him while the others held him.

As we can see, there is absolutely no corroboration for McDonald’s claim that he had handcuffed Oswald. In fact, McDonald himself claimed during his testimony that “….the officers that had come to my aid started handcuffing him and taking him out of the theatre”! Therefore, it is beyond any shadow of a doubt that McDonald lied during his interview on the Top Cops show.

McDonald also claimed in the show that he had informed DPD Captain Will Fritz that Oswald was in custody. However, this was another outright lie. It was actually Officer Gerald Hill who had informed Fritz that Oswald was in custody. Furthermore, McDonald made no mention of informing Fritz that Oswald was in custody during his testimony. The following is from Hill’s testimony.

“….He [Captain Fritz] walked up to Rose and Stovall and made the statement to them, "Go get a search warrant and go out to some address on Fifth Street," and I don't recall the actual street number, in Irving, and "pick up a man named Lee Oswald." And I asked the captain why he wanted him, and he said, "Well, he was employed down at the Book Depository and he had not been present for a roll call of the employees." And we said, "Captain, we will save you a trip," or words to that effect, "Because there he sits." And with that, we relinquished our prisoner to the homicide and robbery bureau, to Captain Fritz….”.

By “And we said”, Hill is almost certainly referring to Officers Paul Bentley, Charles Walker, Bob Carroll, and K.E Lyons – the four other Officers who escorted Oswald to City Hall with Hill following his arrest. It should also be noted that during his testimony, McDonald claimed that he didn’t go to City Hall with the aforementioned Officers. See below.

Mr. Ball  

Now, did you go with them outside?

Mr. McDonald 

No, sir.

Mr. Ball  

What did you do?

Mr. McDonald  

I was looking for my hat and flashlight.

Mr. Ball

Did you go downtown with them?

Mr. McDonald  

No, sir.

As I hope you have come to realise, Nick McDonald was a filthy liar. Yet lone gunman zealots uphold him as being an honest Police Officer, while simultaneously calling former Dallas deputy Sheriff Roger Craig a liar for various reasons (for information on Roger Craig, please refer to this post).

To be perfectly frank, I find it absolutely sickening that lone gunman zealots continue to defend McDonald, and other demonstrable liars in the DPD, as being honest and honourable men. For more information on the various lies by the DPD, I encourage you to read through my previous articles on this blog. In particular, please read through my two part article on Gerald Hill (here) – where I demonstrate that Hill was very likely involved in the conspiracy to assassinate the President!