James Robert Leavelle (August 23, 1920 – August 29, 2019) was a Dallas Police Department homicide detective who, on November 24, 1963, was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby.

[4][5] In April 1942, the Whitney left Pearl Harbor and headed for the South Pacific Ocean to support operations there.

After being knocked down and seriously injured by a rogue wave, he was evacuated to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital near Oakland, California.

Around the same time, Leavelle left on a medical discharge to take a civilian supply job with the Army Air Force in Southern California.

[6][7] On November 22, 1963, after Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at the Texas Theatre for the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy and the murder of Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit, Leavelle told Tippit murder witnesses Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard while they were waiting to view Oswald in a line-up, "We want to be sure, we want to try to wrap him up real tight on killing this officer.

Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and shot and mortally wounded Oswald at point-blank range.

Leavelle gave interviews in which he said he saw Ruby emerge with the gun and that he had jerked Oswald by his trousers to pull him behind him when the shot was fired.

Leavelle took a statement from Texas School Book Depository employee Victoria Adams on February 17, 1964.

Adams had only moved into an apartment the day before Leavelle knocked on her door, and she had not yet notified anyone with a change of address.

When asked why he needed to talk with her since she had already given her testimony to the Dallas Police, he responded, "Oh, the records were all burned in a fire we had and we have to interview everyone again."

[11] On March 25, 1964, Leavelle provided testimony to Warren Commission assistant counsel Leon Hubert.

[14] Leavelle supported the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone and rejected conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.

[18] In an interview with author Joseph McBride, Leavelle said in regards to how his department had reacted to the president's assassination, "...as the old saying goes back then, 'it was no different than a south Dallas nigger killing'.

Leavelle said in regards to the death of Tippit, "What some people don't realize is that when a police officer gets killed, that takes precedence over the shooting of the president, because that's close to home.