FAYETTEVILLE -- The American Police Hall of Fame honored a West Fork police chief slain during a traffic stop 34 years ago during a ceremony Wednesday.
Paul Mueller's widow and two of his children accepted the Hall of Fame's Medal of Honor, which was presented by the Paul Mueller Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police at University of Arkansas police headquarters.
"I cannot believe it's been almost 35 years, and all of you still remember the horrible tragedy we all went through," Myrrah Mueller, Mueller's widow, told the audience of about 40 people, her voice shaking.
"Is this not the most awesome thing?" she said later to her son, John Mueller, who attended with his older sister, Paula Mueller.
Paula Mueller was 10 when her father was alerted to a suspected drunk driver on U.S. 71 on March 20, 1981. The chief said over his radio that they were acting "squirrelly" before he pulled them over, university police Capt. Matt Mills said Wednesday.
Unbeknownst to Mueller, the driver and his passenger had just robbed a Fayetteville Pizza Hut.
One of the two men in the car fired a .44 Magnum revolver in Mueller's direction, hitting the chief twice before he returned fire, Mills said. The car drove off as other officers arrived, beginning a three-day manhunt that ended with another police officer injured by a gunshot.
One of the suspects was killed during the manhunt, and the other died 13 years later while serving a life sentence.
"Chief Mueller's actions that night are an example to all of us in law enforcement," Mills said, adding that the man put others above himself. "His example of selflessness lives on today."
Paula Mueller, now a teacher in Farmington, said she heard the commotion on the scanner as it was happening and told her mother, "Something's wrong with Dad."
It was like a bad dream, she said. Her mother called a neighbor and the children's grandparents over to watch them while she went to find out what was happening.
"Without God and family, we wouldn't have made it. God, family and friends," Paula Mueller said. "It helps to know we're not forgotten, he's not forgotten and just to remember all police officers."
State Desk on 09/05/2015