Oklahoma cop accused of killing his own police chief in fight in Florida, sheriff says

An Oklahoma police officer is accused of killing his own police chief during a fight in Florida, media outlets report.

Mannford, Oklahoma officer Michael Patrick Nealey was arrested on suspicion that he killed Police Chief Lucky Miller in Pensacola Beach, Florida, KOTV reported. They were attending a conference, according to the Tulsa TV station.

Nealey remained in Escambia County jail Tuesday morning on a felony homicide charge, records show.

According to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, deputies went to the Hilton Hotel on Pensacola Beach about 9:50 p.m., where they found Miller dead, the Pensacola News Journal reported.

Hotel security was called earlier because the two men were disruptive, and deputies went to the hotel because the men were fighting, The Associated Press reported.

A maintenance worker told investigators he went into the room and found Nealey sitting on top of Miller, who was on the floor, according to an arrest report obtained by WEAR. The worker pulled Nealey off Miller’s body, the Pensacola TV station reported.

When a deputy entered the room, Nealey was “mumbling” on the floor and had a swollen hand while Miller’s face was beaten with one eye swollen, WEAR reported.

A spokeswoman said that alcohol was involved in the “physical altercation,” according to the AP.//

“We were told they came here together and were in town for a conference,” spokeswoman Sgt. Melony Peterson told the Pensacola newspaper. “But we don’t know yet which conference they were going to. We’re still figuring that out.”

Miller, 44, was police chief since 2007 and had a wife and three children, WKRG reported. A public safety conference was being hosted at the hotel this week, the TV station reported.

“We are heartbroken by the news,” Mannford Mayor Tyler Buttram said in a news release on Facebook. “Please keep both families in your prayers as we work to move forward.”

Buttram said that Miller and Nealey “were the best of friends, both on the force and off,” according to The Washington Post.

“Their families knew each other very well,” Buttram told the newspaper.

Escambia County sheriff’s officials haven’t released details about what led to the fight between Nealey and Miller.

A public safety conference was being hosted at the hotel this week, WKRG reported.

In 2017, KOTV reported a story about Nealey and Miller hosting a training seminar for other police officers in the state. In the story, the TV station reported that Nealey was a training officer in the police department.

Mannford is a town of 3,000 located about 20 miles west of Tulsa.

This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 12:00 PM.