Secret Service Agent Emory Roberts ordered SS agents to not react to protect JFK When Agent Ready jumped off to run to JFK, Roberts ordered him back. Before leaving Love field, Roberts ordered Agent Rybka off JFK’s limo and left him at the airport (WFAA-TV’s special; “JFK: the day the nation cried”). Agent Roberts would later write (April 28, 1964) that "there was no question in my mind as to (the agents') physical and mental capacity to function effectively in their assigned duties." despite the fact that they had been partying all that morning. Like Chief Rowley and Inspector Kelley before both the WC and the HSCA, Agent Roberts covered up the drinking incident, despite Secret Service regulations which stated that this was grounds for removal from the agency. Sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption wreak havoc on even the best trained reflexes.
While leaving Love Field on the way to the heart of Dallas, destiny, and murder, Agent Roberts rose from his seat and, using his voice and several hand gestures, forced agent Henry J. Rybka to fall back from the rear area of JFK's limousine, causing a perplexed Rybka to stop and raise his arms several times in disgust (Rybka would then remain at the airport during the murder, having been effectively neutralized) --although Paul Landis made room for him on the right running board of the follow-up car, Agent Rybka did not budge. Although Rybka worked the follow-up in Houston the day before and was a gun-carrying protective agent, he was not allowed to do his job on November 22,1963 (Rybka has since died...). Agent Henry Rybka was also on the follow-up car team in San Antonio on 11/21/63. In addition, the newly-released Cooper film depicts Rybka jumping out of the follow-up car in Fort Worth on 11/22/63 -- he was the first agent out of the car. In both cases, Rybka was not the driver. He revealed himself as a conscientious SS agent wanting to protect the President, so Roberts knew he didn’t want him on the trip into Dealey Plaza where he might do something stupid like ruin the murder of JFK by shielding him with his body as he was supposed to do.