Witness to murder of JFK assassin Oswald, 99

Jim Leavelle, the long-time Dallas policeman who was captured in one of history’s most famous photographs as he escorted President John F Kennedy’s assassin moments before he was fatally shot, has died aged 99.

Mr Leavelle, distinctive in his lightcoloured suit and white Stetson, is seen in the photograph with his hand on Lee Harvey Oswald, Mr Leavelle’s body stiffening as nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot the handcuffed presidential assassin on live TV in 1963.

Mr Leavelle’s daughter, Tanya Evers, said her father died on Thursday while visiting her sister in Colorado.

He fell earlier this week and broke his hip, requiring surgery at a Denver hospital, Ms Evers said.

He responded well to the surgery, she said, but later suffered a heart attack.

In the decades after the assassination, Mr Leavelle regularly spoke at schools and before various groups because he believed “he had a responsibility to share his story”, said Ms Evers, who lives in San Antonio.

Her father received post nearly every day from people asking questions about the assassination or invoking any one of several conspiracy theories, she added.

“He really felt a need to address the theories,” Ms Evers 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.”

Mr Leavelle joined the Dallas police force in 1950 and retired from active service in 1975.

He was among the lead detectives assigned to investigate Mr Kennedy’s assassination.

In 2013, Dallas police commanders honoured Mr Leavelle with the Police Commendation Award and announced the department’s Detective of the Year Award would be named for him.

In accepting the honour, Mr Leavelle said he was thinking of other deserving officers, including JD Tippit, who was shot and killed by Oswald when Mr Tippit stopped Oswald to question him some 45 minutes after Kennedy’s assassination.

The photo that captured the attack on Oswald won a Pulitzer Prize.

Dallas policeman Jim Leavelle with the famous photograph.