Jim Leavelle, lawman at Lee Harvey Oswald’s side, dies at 99

DALLAS (AP) – Jim Leavelle, the longtime Dallas lawman who was captured in one of history’s most iconic photographs as he escorted President John F. Kennedy’s assassin moments before he was fatally shot, has died. He was 99.

Leavelle, distinctive in his light-colored suit and white Stetson, is seen in the photograph with his hand on Lee Harvey Oswald, his body stiffening as nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot the handcuffed presidential assassin at close range on live TV in 1963.

Leavelle appears shocked as Oswald grimaces in pain.

Leavelle’s daughter, Tanya Evers, told The Associated Press that her father died Thursday while visiting her sister in Colorado.

Leavelle joined the Dallas police force in 1950 and retired from active service in 1975. He was among the lead detectives assigned to investigate Kennedy’s Nov. 22, 1963, assassination.