Sheriff Mike Neal — 16 Years of Survivor Guilt After the West Memphis Ambush | Part 1

About this episode

Sheriff Michael Neal shares his experiences and the emotional toll of surviving a cop-killer ambush in West Memphis.

Sheriff Michael Neal is a law enforcement officer, a combat veteran of one of the most dramatic police incidents in modern American history, and today the elected Sheriff of Lee County, Arkansas. In May 2010, he was a wildlife officer who drove over an hour, lights and sirens, to respond to a cop-killer ambush in West Memphis and ended it himself in a Walmart parking lot with dozens of rounds hitting his truck. The first interview told the story of what he did. This one tells the story of what it cost him. Sixteen years of carrying a date - May 20th - that alternated between the worst day of his life and, eventually, his wedding anniversary. He got married on the anniversary of the shooting on purpose, to give the day something else to hold. This conversation covers the year of fog that followed the shooting. It covers the 42 awards he received that he didn't want while the colleagues who died received nothing. It covers the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington D.C., where his bullet-riddled wildlife truck is one of the two centerpiece displays, and how the first time he visited he kept his back to it and greeted visitors rather than look at what he called, without…

People in this episode

Guest: Sheriff Michael Neal

Topics covered

• law enforcement
• mental health
• survivor guilt
• police incidents
• personal story

Keywords

• Sheriff Michael Neal
• West Memphis ambush
• survivor guilt
• mental health
• law enforcement

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Law Enforcement Museum

Books & works: Walmart

Places: West Memphis, Lee County, Arkansas

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