The Arrest of Jack Lawrence

Before I get into the mess that is the case against Oswald for the shooting of police officer J.D. Tippit, there is one other strange arrest from November 22 that I wanted to point out. Jack Lawrence was arrested in the late afternoon after the assassination because he exhibited some suspicious behavior after he showed up late to work. The story goes, according to Marrs, that Lawrence got the job a month before based on what turned out to be fake references from an alleged previous job in New Orleans. He never sold a car in the month leading up to the assassination, but the night before he borrowed one to use on a date. The next morning, Lawrence was late to work, showing up without the car, clothes muddied, and out of breath. It was reported that he rushed into the bathroom where he threw up. When asked about the car, he told his boss that he had to park it because of all the traffic. The car was later found to be parked behind the wooden picket fence on top of the Grassy Knoll. Lawrence was subsequently arrested for his behavior but released later that day.

More after the jump...

After a quick Google search on Lawrence, I found that in a 1992 article, "Jack Lawrence Responds," in which the suspect offers his side of the story, something that the Warren Commission and HSCA never bothered to do. He claims that he left for work in the borrowed car around 12:35pm but because of the motorcade, he soon ran into a ton of traffic. Not wanting to be late for work, he parked his car on the corner of Ervay and Main and walked the rest of the way. Lawrence tells us that the claims of his clothes being muddied, that he threw up, and the car being parked behind the Knoll are completely false.

There are a couple of things that stick out to me. First, the false references from New Orleans of all places. I really haven't seen much of an explanation for this, and while I'm sure he isn't the first guy to write something fake on his resume, the tie to New Orleans is suspicious. Second, what motivation would the other dealership employees have to falsely report the suspicious activity? If Lawrence didn't show up muddied and didn't throw up, why would someone report his activity to the police? Interestingly enough, of the 16 identifiable employees of the dealership on the day of the assassination, only 6 remained a few months later. I've never worked in the auto industry, but it seems like an extremely high turnover rate. Finally, in further looking into this incident, it turned out that a Lee Harvey Oswald imposter took a test drive from this same dealership along the route that the motorcade would eventually follow. The salesman who rode with this man never bothered to report it when the actual Oswald was arrested because he feared it would bring bad publicity for the dealership.

Basically, I find it very odd how someone's reported activity can be so suspicious, yet it is never looked into by either of the two primary investigations, especially when Lawrence denies nearly every claim made about his actions that day. Just another extremely odd piece of this impossible puzzle.