Ardyce Mentzel Oral History

Because Dallas police officer William D. Mentzel (1931-2002) was assigned to the same area in central Oak Cliff where Officer J. D. Tippit was shot and killed, he has generated some research interest over the years. According to Dallas police radio logs, Officer Mentzel was at lunch when he learned about the Kennedy assassination in Dealey Plaza. He returned to his patrol at 1:07PM and was almost immediately dispatched to an automobile accident in the 800 block of West Jefferson. Mentzel was dealing with the accident at the time Tippit was shot near the corner of Tenth and Patton Streets at approximately 1:15PM. Dallas police radio dispatcher Murray Jackson had advised Officer Tippit to shift from his routine Oak Cliff patrol to the central Oak Cliff area - typically patrolled by Mentzel - in the aftermath of the assassination. Although this order remains controversial among some researchers, the Warren Commission noted that several officers assigned to Oak Cliff were dispatched to Dealey Plaza following the assassination, leaving only three patrolmen - Mentzel, Tippit and R. W. Walker - to cover all of Oak Cliff during the aftermath. - Stephen Fagin, Curator