By Jeff Carlton
Associated Press
Saturday, July 26, 2008

Paul Bentley, 87, a Dallas police detective who helped arrest presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald at the Texas Theater, died July 21 at his home in Dallas. No cause of death was reported.

Mr. Bentley worked for the Dallas police for 21 years, starting as a patrol officer and retiring as a detective five years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

He played a supporting role Nov. 22, 1963, responding to the fatal shooting of police officer J.D. Tippit by Oswald. Mr. Bentley and other officers tracked Oswald to the Texas Theater, arresting him after a brief scuffle.

"The fight broke out on the main floor," said Gary Mack, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. "Bentley was up in the balcony. He raced down to help and piled on because Oswald punched an officer and pulled a gun."

In a well-known photograph taken just after the arrest, Mr. Bentley is wearing a suit with his hair slicked back and a cigar in his mouth as he escorts Oswald from the theater. Oswald appears to have a cut on his forehead, which Mr. Bentley said came from his Masonic ring.

Mr. Bentley had another connection to Oswald. His brother-in-law L.C. Graves was one of the officers escorting Oswald when Oswald was shot to death by Jack Ruby. Graves, who died in 1995, can be seen to Oswald's left in a famous photograph of the shooting.

Survivors include his wife, Mozelle Robertson Bentley of Dallas; a son; and a grandson. A daughter died in 1973.