CBB Substack: “I Had to Be There” - The Unforgettable Story of Arkansas Game Warden Mike Neal
In one of law enforcement's most courageous acts, an Arkansas game warden stopped two cop killers in a harrowing 37-second shootout. He survived, but sixteen years later his healing continues.
McLean, VA (June 6, 2026) - Sixteen years ago, on May 20, 2010, two West Memphis, Arkansas police officers — Robert “Brandon” Paudert and Thomas “Bill” Evans — were murdered during a routine traffic stop by two sovereign citizens—a father and his 16-year-old son. What happened next has become one of the most extraordinary acts of courage in modern American law enforcement. Wildlife Officer Michael Neal, more than an hour away when he heard the lookout call go out, slammed his foot to the floor and drove at speeds up to 140 mph toward West Memphis. He didn’t know the officers lying in the roadway below the overpass he stopped on. He didn’t know that one of them was the police chief’s son. He only knew one thing: “I had to be there… I could not get there fast enough.”
What followed was a 37‑second shootout that ended a two‑hour manhunt and saved countless lives. Mike rammed his truck into the suspects’ van at 55 mph, took a dozen rounds of AK‑47 fire through his windshield, and fired 30 rounds back through that same windshield while pinned in the driver’s seat. He survived. The killers did not. And yet, despite receiving 42 awards for his actions, Mike told us, “I never wanted any of them.” What stayed with him was not the praise — it was the guilt, the trauma, and the memory of two fallen colleagues he never met but has carried with him ever since.
In Part 1 of our interview, Mike opens up about the year‑long fog that followed the shooting, the survivor’s guilt that nearly consumed him, and the reason he chose to get married on May 20th: to bring joy to a date that had brought so much pain. He talks about the moment West Memphis Chief Bobby Paudert arrived at the scene, not yet knowing his son Brandon had been shot 18 times. And he shares the words that still echo in his mind: “When you take someone’s life… it sticks with you.” Mike’s bullet‑riddled truck now sits elevated inside the National Law Enforcement Museum — a centerpiece exhibit he insisted on donating so the public could understand the risks officers take every day. Seeing it again this year during National Police Week, he said, was “100% therapeutic” for him.
Part 2 takes listeners inside the shootout itself — the communication breakdown that allowed the killers to hide in a Walmart parking lot, the moment gunfire erupted as Mike turned into the lot, and the split‑second decision to ram rather than engage at a distance. He describes walking up on the scene later on, dazed and believing he was going to be fired or end up in jail for his actions, only to be met with something entirely different: gratitude. And he explains why, after nearly being killed, he chose to stay in law enforcement — because his story could save other officers. This is one of the most gripping, emotional, and important conversations we’ve ever recorded. It is a story of courage, trauma, healing, and the enduring bond between those who wear the badge.
Listen to Part 1 and Part 2 of our interview with Sheriff Mike Neal — and hear firsthand what happened on May 20, 2010, and how one man has carried the weight of that day ever since.
Part 1:
Part 2:
An audio version of this podcast is available at HeroesBehindtheBadgePodcast.org or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major platforms. Just search for the “Heroes Behind the Badge” podcast.
