Traveling organization makes stop in Bentonville to honor Detective Newell

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — An organization dedicated to honoring fallen law enforcement came through Northwest Arkansas on July 30.

Beyond the Call of Duty stopped in Rogers as part of its Ride to Remember, honoring the fallen officers from 2022-23.

Benton County Detective Paul Newell was one of those officers being honored.

Detective Paul Newell was killed in the line of duty during a Wreaths Across America procession on December 17, 2022, after being hit by a truck.

The accident happened on Walton Boulevard in Bentonville before 7:30 a.m.

Detective Paul Newell was one of the law enforcement officers escorting large trucks for a Wreaths Across America event.

BCSO said Newell had been with the sheriff’s office since 1998, starting in the detention division. During his law enforcement career, he served as a patrol deputy, patrol sergeant, training sergeant and lieutenant. Just before his death, he was a detective with the Criminal Investigation Division.

Charlene Newell says it’s emotional seeing the community come out in honor of a man who wore many hats for the county.

“He was part of the motor division for Benton County, and so when those motorbikes pulled through, it was hard. I cried,” Charlene Newell said. “I reached for whoever was beside me and grabbed their hand and squeezed it. So, it was hard. Every day is hard.”

Allison McCarter is a coordinator for Beyond the Call of Duty. She says the team left its home base in Washington state on June 1 and is traveling through 45 states honoring all 380 law enforcement officers lost in 2022 and 2023.

“On our memorial, we don’t have ranks or badge numbers and we do that on purpose,” McCarter said. “It’s so that people across the country see that these are just men and women. These are human beings that had families and friends and lives outside of their job.”

Beyond the Call of Duty will be in Fort Smith on July 31 to honor a Sebastian County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Bill Shibley and an Arkansas State Police trooper Sr. Cpl. Mike Springer.

Shibley died on January 31, 2022, from complications from COVID-19. He had been hospitalized for several weeks before he died.

Shibley served with the sheriff’s office for more than 22 years.

He began his career as a reserve deputy in the sheriff’s office in June 1999. Shortly after, he began his full-time career in the patrol division where he rose to the rank of sergeant.

Springer died on February 11. The Logan County Sheriff’s Office said he also died of COVID-19.

Springer was a 33-year veteran of the department assigned to the Highway Patrol Division, Troop H which covers Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Scott, and Sebastian counties.

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