Figure 20
"On the left hand side was a grass area with a few people scattered along it observing the motorcade passing, and I was visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar to a firecracker. The sound came from my right rear and I immediately moved my head in that direction. In so doing, my eyes had to cross the Presidential automobile and I saw the President hunch forward and then slump to his left. I jumped from the follow-up car and ran toward the Presidential automobile." 31
Clint Hill is visible throughout much of the Zapruder film. In fact, in volume 18 of the Warren Commission report, there is a photo section which displays black and white z-frames extending all the way into the film area between the sprocket holes. In these wider frames, we can see Hill up to about Z-248, and he does appear to glance to his right, but we never, ever see him looking or turned to his left as he testified. Neither is he turned left in the Altgens photo, taken at Z255. This is a strong indication that Hill turned to "scan the crowd" on his left, and heard the apparent 1st shot at some point after Z255. In another part of his testimony, he described his actions this way,
"This is the first sound that I heard; yes, sir. I jumped from the car, realizing that something was wrong, ran to the Presidential limousine..." 32
We know from earlier footage that Hill had been jumping on and off the running board throughout the motorcade, sometimes running alongside the Presidential limousine.
As we will see a bit later, Clint Hill jumped off the running board almost at the same instant as the Z313 head shot. It is important to remember however, that the report of the rifle would take 3-4 frames to reach Hill at that point (assuming a TSBD location), therefore, he had to have started running before he heard the Z313 shot.
If Hill had heard a first shot at Z190, it would mean he waited 6.8 seconds to have moved. If he had heard the first shot at Z224, he would still have waited almost 5 seconds. As we read Hill's testimony, he mentions almost no delay at all from the time he hears the shot, until he looks at the President, and then jumps off the followup car and starts running.
If Hill had heard Z284 as the first shot, it would mean he had responded within about 1.4 - 1.6 seconds. That might seem fast, but that was exactly what he was trained to do.
In order to determine when Hill first heard a gunshot, we can look at him in several
stages of the assassination. In Zapruder frame 183 (figure 21), in Willis' photo
#4 (figure 20) taken at Z202, and in the Altgens photo taken at Z255 (figure 13),
we see Hill in almost identical positions facing slightly to his right. In fact, in the Altgens
picture, he is the only agent on the running boards who is not turned far to the
right or looking to the rear. At that moment, he is still oblivious to the first
shot. Remember his testimony - he reacted "immediately" after hearing the shot. Despite
the fact that he is turned generally in the direction of the President (as he has
been since they turned onto Elm) he simply does not know about the danger yet. If
he did, he would have already been in motion.
