hand on the gun, he felt something graze across his hand and heard what sounded like the snap of the hammer.646 McDonald felt the pistol scratch his cheek as he wrenched it away from Oswald.647 Detective Bob K. Carroll, who was standing beside McDonald, seized the gum from him.648
The other officers who helped subdue Oswald corroborated McDonald in his testimony except that they did not hear Oswald say, "It's all over now." Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers recalled such a remark but he did not reach the scene of the struggle until Oswald had been knocked to the floor by McDonald and the others.649 Some of the officers saw Oswald strike McDonald with his fist.650 Most of them heard a click which they assumed to be a click of the hammer of the revolver.651 Testimony of a firearms expert before the Commission established that the hammer of the revolver never touched the shell in the chamber.652 Although the witnesses did not hear the sound of a misfire, they might have heard a snapping noise resulting from the police officer grabbing the cylinder of the revolver and pulling it away from Oswald while he was attempting to pull the trigger.653 (See app. X, p. 560.)
Two patrons of the theatre and John Brewer testified regarding the arrest of Oswald, as did the various police officers who participated in the fight. George Jefferson Applin, Jr., confirmed that Oswald fought with four or five officers before he was handcuffed.654 He added that one officer grabbed the muzzle of a shotgun, drew back, and hit Oswald with the butt end of the gun in the back.655 No other theatre patron or officer has testified that Oswald was hit by a gun. Nor did Oswald ever complain that he was hit with a gun, or injured in the back. Deputy Sheriff Walthers brought a shotgun into the theatre but laid it on some seats before helping subdue Oswald.656 Officer Ray Hawkins said that there was no one near Oswald who had a shotgun and he saw no one strike Oswald in the back with a rifle butt or the butt of a gun.657
John Gibson, another patron in the theatre, saw an officer grab Oswald, and he claims that he heard the click of a gun misfiring.658 He saw no shotgun in the possession of any policeman near Oswald.659 Johnny Brewer testified he saw Oswald pull the revolver and the officers struggle with him to take it away but that once he was subdued, no officer struck him.660 He further stated that while fists were flying he heard one of the officers say "Kill the President, will you." 661 It is unlikely that any of the police officers referred to Oswald as a suspect in the assassination. While the police radio had noted the similarity in description of the two suspects, the arresting officers were pursuing Oswald for the murder of Tippit.662 As Oswald, handcuffed, was led from the theatre, he was, according to McDonald, "cursing a little bit and hollering police brutality." 663 At 1:51 p.m., police car 2 reported by radio that it was on the way to headquarters with tile suspect.664
Captain Fritz returned to police headquarters from the Texas School Book Depository at 2:15 after a brief stop at the sheriff's
