Jim Leavelle, the lawman who was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald the moment Jack Ruby fatally shot him, has died at the age of 99.
Tanya Evers, Leavelle’s daughter, told the Associated Press her father suffered a heart attack Thursday while visiting Colorado. He had fallen earlier in the week and broken his hip, an injury that required surgery.
Leavelle’s image became a part of history in 1963 thanks to a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo snapped by Dallas Times Herald photographer Bob Jackson, President John F. Kennedy’s assassin the moment he got shot. Oswald is seen recoiling in pain after nightclub owner Jack Ruby fired off a bullet from a revolver into him at close-range. Leavelle, who was escorting Oswald and wearing a light-colored suit and Stetson hat, appears stunned by the sudden attack.
#BREAKING: James Leavelle, Stetson-wearing Dallas cop handcuffed to JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in iconic photo, dead at 99. Leavelle died on a trip to Colorado, friends tell WFAA. pic.twitter.com/jHTi1FCLtr
— Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) August 30, 2019
The photo was splashed across newspapers throughout an already shaken country.
Leavelle, who joined the Dallas police force in 1950, worked as one of the lead detectives investigating the 46-year-old president’s 1963 assassination. Leavelle retired from the force in 1975 and was honored in 2013 with the Police Commendation Award. The Dallas police also named the Detective of the Year Award after him.
During the presentation of the honors, Leavelle noted that when he saw Ruby coming toward them, he unsuccessfully attempted to shield Oswald by pulling the presidential assassin behind his own torso.
“Him being real close all I did was turn his body so instead of the bullet hitting him dead center it hit about 3 or 4 inches to the left of the navel,” Leavelle explained.
Evers said that her father received mail every day from people inquiring about Oswald’s death and conspiracies associated with Kennedy’s assassination.
“He really felt a need to address the theories,” she said. “He wanted to make sure that people knew there was no conspiracy and that one misguided person could take a shot at a president and succeed.”
