SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – The newest name slated for Springfield’s memorial to fallen police officers wasn’t felled by a bullet or killed in a high-speed car chase. Rather, Constable John Miller was killed protecting the town against American Indians in 1675.

Almost 330 years after the deadly attack in King Philip’s War, Miller’s name will be added to the Springfield Police Department Memorial, which honors fallen police officers. He is believed to be the first known law enforcement fatality in what later became the United States.

The Springfield Police Commission voted April 28 to add Miller to the memorial, at the request of Deputy Chief William J. Fitchet. An annual department ceremony honoring all fallen officers will take place Wednesday.

Miller is the earliest known law enforcement person in the country to die in the line of duty, Margaret R. Sullivan, a Boston University administrator who researches police fatalities in her free time, told The Republican of Springfield.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial recognizes New York City Deputy Sheriff Isaac Smith, who was shot May 17, 1792, as the first law enforcement death in the nation’s history.

Fitchet, Springfield Police Officer David C. Mee and a clerk for the Springfield Police Traffic Bureau have been trying to get recognition for Miller for three years. A petition to put Miller on the national memorial was rejected because Massachusetts was only a colony, and the United States did not yet exist, at the time of his death, Fitchet said.

Miller’s death certificate at Springfield City Hall and a handwritten account describes how Miller and Thomas Cooper, a lieutenant in the militia, were killed Oct. 5, 1675, during King Philip’s War.

The men were scouting at what is now Longhill Street to find out if area tribes were about to attack Springfield when they were killed near present-day Main and Mill streets, Fitchet said.

The attack left several settlers dead and 32 homes in flames, according to the book “King Philip’s War,” by George W. Ellis and John E. Morris.

The constable system was replaced with a police force when Springfield became a city in 1852, the book said.

AP-ES-05-09-04 1501EDT