Family, Friends & Fellow Officers Remember...

Motorcycle officer, beat cop killed in the line of duty more than 90 years ago finally get grave markers

Posted on Oct. 16, 2020 WKRG NEWS

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — In times of tragedy we often say “we will never forget” but sometimes we actually do forget. That was the case for nearly a century after two Mobile officers were killed in the line of duty.

Today that is all changing.

Oct. 18, 1929, Officer WF “Happy” Murphy, a motorcycle officer stopped, a speeding car on Broad Street near Conti. You’ve heard it before, there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. Even in 1929, being an officer in Mobile was a dangerous job. It would be Murphy’s last traffic stop. He was shot and killed by the occupants of the stolen car. He left behind a wife and three children.

That was far from the first loss for the Mobile Police Department. Just three years earlier, Officer Christopher Dean was shot and killed while checking on four suspicious men in his beat. He never had the chance to draw his own weapon.

They are just two of Mobile’s finest who have fallen protecting citizens. Fallen, and for decades, in a way, forgotten. 100 years after Mobile had its first officer killed in the line of duty, our fallen heroes are honored by the entire town, showing they back the blue. These two men, however, didn’t even get a proper grave marker. Friday, more than 90 years after they laid down their lives for their city, that wrong has been righted. Their names, Happy Murphy, Christopher Dean, now forever etched in stone and once again on the minds and in the hearts of the citizens of the city they served.

Murphy’s killer was sentenced to life but was paroled after 15 years. Dean’s killer was sentenced to death.

Retired Police Officer
NYPD

October 17, 2020

Thank you, Officer Dean, for your ultimate sacrifice protecting the citizens of Mobile.
Rest In Peace.

Anonymous
Ga Deputy Sheriff (Ret)

October 17, 2020

Your heroism and service is honored today, the 86th anniversary of your death. Your memory lives and you continue to inspire. Thank you for your service. My cherished son Larry Lasater was a fellow police officer murdered in the line of duty on April 24, 2005 while serving as a Pittsburg, CA police officer.

Time never dimishes respect and you will always be honored and revered. Rest In Peace

Phyllis Loya
Mom of fallen California Officer Larry Lasater, Pittsburg PD, eow 4/24/05

January 22, 2012

Officer Dean,
On today, the 82nd anniversary of your murder, I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for the citizens of Mobile. It took another six months but your murderer finally got the justice that he deserved.

R.I.P.
Anonymous

Anonymous

January 22, 2008

YOU ARE REMEMBERED TODAY AND THANK YOU SIR FOR YOUR SERVICE

Pat Van Den Berghe, Manchester, NH
Neighbors for a Better Manchester, NH

January 16, 2008

We pause to honor the memory of Officer Dean and to acknowledge his ultimate sacrifice.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to any and all of his surviving family members. Keep his memory alive.

Major D.W. Warren
Montgomery Police Dept. - Montgomery, AL

January 24, 2007

Rest in Peace, Officer Dean. Your sacrifice if not forgotten.

Officer 11169

October 26, 2006

06/03/04

Each day I try to read the ODMP. Today I read your story. Any officer who dies in the line of duty will always be remembered for his sacrifice. You died a hero. Rest in peace Officer Dean.

Captain Robert W Cannon, Ret.
Vermilion Co, Il. Sheriff's Dept.

June 4, 2004

No Officer that gave his life should be without reflection. "For those who pledge to uphold it, freedom requires a sacrifice the protected will never understand."

January 2, 2004