Carnegie Medal
Carnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal is awarded by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, known simply as the Hero Fund. The perfect candidate must be a civilian who voluntarily risked his or her life to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the life of another person. Valid evidence is required; the deed should be brought to the Commission’s attention within two years. The award was inspired by Selwyn M. Taylor and Daniel A. Lyle, who perished in rescue attempts following a mine disaster in Harwick, Pennsylvania.The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, the Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,440 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904. Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant. Throughout the 120 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, nearly $45 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
| Sl | Name | Country | Flag | Year | Awarded For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Annie Bilotta, Tisch Schmidt-Williams, Aune Tietz & Erica Wolf | United States | 2024 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 10 | John Parks | United States | 2024 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 9 | Christopher and Joseph Novecosky | Canada | 2023 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 8 | Sara Schaller | United States | 2023 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 7 | Christopher Bischoff & Kelsey Schwuchow | United States | 2023 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 6 | John Cheng | United States | 2022 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| Billy Chang | Taiwan | 2022 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | ||
| 5 | Daniel L. Weiss | United States | 2022 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 4 | Daniel Rose & David Chapman | United States | 2022 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 3 | Antwaun M. Jackson | United States | 2022 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 2 | Rolando Rene Caballero | United States | 2021 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others | |
| 1 | Kevin James Schell | United States | 2020 | people who risk serious injury or death while saving or attempting to save the lives of others |
Carnegie Medal Laureates (2025)
Nancy Daniel
Carnegie Medal 2025
Nancy DanielOn March 16, 2024, 25-year-old Taylor Daniel was inside her family’s one-story home in Levittown, Pennsylvania, when her former partner, 26, arrived with a semi-automatic rifle and was forcing his way inside. About 10 minutes before the break-in, the assailant had killed his stepmother and his 13-year-old sister at another residence. Taylor told her mother, 61-year-old food service worker Nancy Daniel, to hide in her bedroom, while Taylor ushered her two daughters, 5-year-old Aubree Daniel and 3-year-old Arianna Daniel, into the bedroom that she shared with them. With the children hiding under the covers of the bed, the assailant had gained entry and moved into Taylor’s bedroom, where he shot her three times. Hearing silence, Daniel left her bedroom and moved into the kitchen to grab an axe handle that she kept for protection. Rather than fleeing the house, Daniel moved into Taylor’s bedroom and struck the assailant’s head and back with the axe handle. The assailant then turned toward her and repeatedly struck Daniel with the butt of the gun. The attack caused a deep wound to her scalp and cut to her face. The assailant then fled. He was arrested by police hours later. Daniel attempted CPR on Taylor at the instruction of a 911 operator, but Taylor died at the scene. Daniel was treated at a hospital emergency room and received staples to close the largest wound on her scalp. Both girls were physically unharmed.
George W. Greenway IV
Carnegie Medal 2025
George W. Greenway IVAt night, on Sept. 5, 2024, a 27-year-old woman had fallen from the border fence separating El Paso, Texas, and Mexico into the American Canal. As she was carried downstream, she grabbed hold of a cable that was strung across the canal about 80 feet upstream from the headgates of a wastewater treatment plant, where others had drowned in recent months. State trooper George W. Greenway IV, 45, from Sulphur Springs, Texas, was sitting in his patrol car a mile upstream when he heard the woman scream. Greenway had received a text from his sergeant to be on the lookout for a woman who might have been swept into the canal. He found a border agent who opened the border fence gate for him and soon heard crying behind the fence. Greenway shined his flashlight through the fence and saw the woman in the middle of the canal clinging to the cable. Without hesitation, Greenway moved to help the woman before the border agent could grab a rope bag because he felt she could not hold on much longer. He removed his duty belt, jumped into the canal and used the cable to pull himself hand-over-hand to the woman. Fighting the current, Greenway grabbed the woman with one arm, told the border agent to instruct her to let go, and wrapped his legs around her as she went limp. He grabbed the cable with both hands as he secured the woman between his legs and pulled her toward a steep embankment. Greenway released his grip of the cable and grabbed a rebar step before he hoisted the woman up the step to a level surface. An ambulance soon arrived and took the woman to a hospital. Greenway was not injured.
Nate Davenport
Carnegie Medal 2025
Nate Davenport, deceased, Marlin Davenport, and Seth KozakA 10-year-old boy was playing in an outdoor fountain of a Jupiter, Florida, plaza on Oct. 22, 2023, when he fell facedown and became unresponsive in the water. Authorities later determined that electricity had leaked from several of the fountain’s light fixtures and the boy was electrocuted. While he lay in the water, 8-year-old Marlin Davenport, of Jupiter, who was also playing in the water and was shocked. He was able to alert his sister to the danger, and they both exited the fountain. Marlin and his sister ran toward an outdoor seating area overlooking the fountain to inform their father, Jupiter engineering firm president Nate Davenport, 45, and the boy’s father, sales representative Seth Kozak, 49, also of Jupiter. Davenport ran to the fountain, where he arrived ahead of Kozak, and jumped into the water near the boy. He was immediately shocked and fell unresponsive beside the boy into the water. Kozak entered the water next to aid his son and Davenport, but he was also shocked and became immobilized on his knees. Unable to climb out of the fountain, Kozak called for help. Marlin stood on the splash pad outside of the fountain and grabbed Kozak’s arm but let go when he received a shock through his arm. Again, Marlin grabbed Kozak’s arm and helped Kozak to move his legs out of the fountain, and his body onto the ledge. From there, Kozak lay and pulled his son out of the fountain while being shocked. He began to perform CPR on his son while Marlin stood on the ledge and tried to pull Davenport out of the water. Kozak left his son’s side to return to the ledge, lay chest down, and reached for Davenport while enduring additional shocks as he tried to pull him out. Around the time others joined to help Kozak pull Davenport from the water, a bystander found an emergency shut-off switch and cut off power to the fountain. First-responders arrived at the scene, where they tended to Kozak’s son, who was revived. The boy was taken to a hospital, along with Marlin and his 11-year-old brother, who had entered at one point to try to help. They later recovered from electrocution injuries. Kozak was also treated at a hospital for his extended exposure to the electrified water. His son remained in the hospital for two days before he was released. Davenport could not be revived.
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Mark Robinette
Carnegie Medal 2025
Mark Robinette, deceasedPastor Mark Robinette, 55; his wife; and four of their children were trapped on the second floor of their two-story home in Orient, Ohio, on Jan. 23, 2024, after a fire had broken out on the first floor and filled the upstairs with dense smoke. Robinette’s son, 14, woke his parents. As fire spread up the stairwell to the second floor, Robinette helped his wife out of a bedroom window. As the 14-year-old moved to run back to his room to retrieve one of his brothers, Robinette told his son that he would go to get “the boys.” Robinette picked up the 14-year-old and pushed him through a bathroom window onto a first-floor roof. As Robinette ran into a hallway, he intercepted his 24-year-old daughter and carried her to his bedroom to push her out through the window. Robinette then disappeared from the window and was not seen after that. He remained inside with his 10-year-old and 17-year-old sons. Robinette was later found in his bedroom. The two boys were found elsewhere in the house. All three had died from smoke inhalation and were badly burned.
Owen C. Emmons
Carnegie Medal 2025
Owen C. EmmonsA driver lost control of his vehicle after midnight on Dec. 12, 2021, in Newport Beach, California, after reaching speeds of 129 m.p.h. In the passenger seat was 19-year-old Jackson Gutierrez, who was trapped inside the vehicle and rendered immobile after the accident severed his legs at both knees. The driver escaped the car as fire spread within moments along the hood and dashboard. Smoke partially filled the cab and could be seen rising in the air from a distance by Gutierrez’s friend, Owen C. Emmons, an 18-year-old college student from Tempe, Arizona. Emmons arrived at the scene to find smoke and flames issuing from the vehicle he recognized as his friend’s car. He approached the burning vehicle at the open driver’s door and stepped onto the driver’s side floorboard to lean in. Emmons located Gutierrez slumped over the center console amid the smoke and blistering heat. He wrapped his arms in a bear hug around Gutierrez’s torso before he successfully pulled him up and over the center console. Emmons soon realized Gutierrez’s legs had been severed. Backing, Emmons removed him from the car. He carried his friend to safety along the road’s shoulder, where he removed his hoodie and T-shirt to fashion a tourniquet for Gutierrez’s right leg. A bystander approached the duo and used a belt to apply as a tourniquet to Gutierrez’s other leg. Paramedics arrived to take control of the scene and took Gutierrez to the hospital, where he remained for almost two months recovering from bilateral amputation of the legs. He also suffered fractures of the pelvis, arm, and lower back; second- and third-degree burns to the left arm and face; and a traumatic brain injury. Emmons suffered no ill effects.
KeVaughn Montgomery
Carnegie Medal 2025
KeVaughn Montgomery, deceasedAn 8-year-old boy slid down a recreational slide on a double-decker pontoon boat into Sutton Lake in Sutton, West Virginia, on July 15, 2024. After entering the water, at a point that was 14 feet deep, he began to panic and struggled to stay afloat. He was wearing a life jacket, but one of the hooks on it unlatched and the jacket started to loosen from his body, but it did not completely come off. The boy’s father, 25-year-old construction worker KeVaughn Montgomery from Charleston, West Virginia, saw his son panic in the water and jumped from the boat. He landed in the water about 10 feet away from the boy and swam to him to grasp him under his arms. Montgomery held him above the water’s surface as the boy panicked, which caused Montgomery to repeatedly submerge. He continued to hold the boy above the surface and eventually pushed the boy a few feet toward the boat. Montgomery then submerged and did not resurface. Other adults in the party had entered the water after Montgomery and brought the boy back onto the boat to safety. The boy was not injured. Poor visibility made it difficult to search for Montgomery and there was no cell service at the scene. Members of the party went to a nearby marina to call 911 and a search was initiated for Montgomery. He was not found until divers recovered his body the following day. He had drowned.
Jacob Sander
Carnegie Medal 2025
Jacob Sander and Jonathon BallKristin Barbiea, 47, was walking her dogs along a partially ice-covered pond at the center of her apartment complex in Florence, Kentucky, on Jan. 12, when one of them got loose and ran onto the ice. The dog fell into a 30-foot diameter hole in the ice about 100 feet from the bank and Barbiea attempted to retrieve the dog out of fear it would drown. She successfully reached the dog and pulled it up onto the ice, but the ice broke beneath her feet, plunging both her and the dog into the water. She was unable to grasp the edge of the crumbling ice sheet and tried to keep herself and the dog above water. Barbiea struggled for about 10 minutes while calling for help; a neighbor heard her and called 911. On-duty police officer Jacob Sander, 30, from Fort Wright, Kentucky, was in the area and responded to the scene, as did on-duty sheriff’s sergeant Jonathon Ball, 34, from Sparta, Kentucky. Once at the scene, Sander was informed that officers were on their way with rescue ropes, but he later said he felt she might drown if he did not intervene. Sander removed his duty belt and other equipment before stepping onto the ice, breaking through it twice. He located a solid patch before he laid flat on the ice and army-crawled to Barbiea. Once there, Sander grasped her and unsuccessfully attempted to remove her. Meanwhile, Ball arrived at the scene and called out to Sander to ask how he could assist. Fully clothed, Ball made his way out onto the ice while Sander shouted instructions at him on where the ice was most safe. He crawled on his hands and knees about 100 feet to Sander and Barbiea where he grasped Sander by his boot. While Sander pulled on Barbiea and Ball pulled on Sander, the two men pulled her up and onto the ice. Ball and Sander then stood to each grasp one of Barbiea’s arms before dragging her across the ice to shallow water near the bank. Emergency personnel helped them move Barbiea to safety on land and took her to the hospital, where they removed her water-soaked clothing. They provided her with heated blankets. Sander was cold as a result of the rescue but was otherwise unharmed. Ball was cold and fatigued following the incident. He recovered.
Jonathon Ball
Carnegie Medal 2025
Jacob Sander and Jonathon BallKristin Barbiea, 47, was walking her dogs along a partially ice-covered pond at the center of her apartment complex in Florence, Kentucky, on Jan. 12, when one of them got loose and ran onto the ice. The dog fell into a 30-foot diameter hole in the ice about 100 feet from the bank and Barbiea attempted to retrieve the dog out of fear it would drown. She successfully reached the dog and pulled it up onto the ice, but the ice broke beneath her feet, plunging both her and the dog into the water. She was unable to grasp the edge of the crumbling ice sheet and tried to keep herself and the dog above water. Barbiea struggled for about 10 minutes while calling for help; a neighbor heard her and called 911. On-duty police officer Jacob Sander, 30, from Fort Wright, Kentucky, was in the area and responded to the scene, as did on-duty sheriff’s sergeant Jonathon Ball, 34, from Sparta, Kentucky. Once at the scene, Sander was informed that officers were on their way with rescue ropes, but he later said he felt she might drown if he did not intervene. Sander removed his duty belt and other equipment before stepping onto the ice, breaking through it twice. He located a solid patch before he laid flat on the ice and army-crawled to Barbiea. Once there, Sander grasped her and unsuccessfully attempted to remove her. Meanwhile, Ball arrived at the scene and called out to Sander to ask how he could assist. Fully clothed, Ball made his way out onto the ice while Sander shouted instructions at him on where the ice was most safe. He crawled on his hands and knees about 100 feet to Sander and Barbiea where he grasped Sander by his boot. While Sander pulled on Barbiea and Ball pulled on Sander, the two men pulled her up and onto the ice. Ball and Sander then stood to each grasp one of Barbiea’s arms before dragging her across the ice to shallow water near the bank. Emergency personnel helped them move Barbiea to safety on land and took her to the hospital, where they removed her water-soaked clothing. They provided her with heated blankets. Sander was cold as a result of the rescue but was otherwise unharmed. Ball was cold and fatigued following the incident. He recovered.
Matthew Duffiney
Carnegie Medal 2025
Matthew Duffiney and Jack FranceOn March 10, 73-year-old Charles Grenier was riding a powersports vehicle across thin ice on Black River in Cheboygan, Michigan, when it broke through the ice and sank 13 feet to the bottom of the river. Grenier unbuckled his seat belt and swam to the water’s surface. Once there, he clung to the ice and shouted for help in the frigid water. Property caretaker Matthew Duffiney, 28, of Cheboygan, and his friend, irrigation company vice president Jack France, 28, also of Cheboygan, were ice fishing on the other side of the river when they saw Grenier plunge through the ice. Both men jumped on France’s powersports vehicle and raced over to the man in peril. They parked on thick ice, ran, and then walked, across increasingly thin ice as they approached Grenier. Duffiney crouched down and crawled on the ice to distribute his weight before he reached out to grab Grenier’s hands. The ice soon broke under him and he tumbled into the water head first. France also plunged into the water, and both men then moved to either side of Grenier. They grabbed his arms and tried unsuccessfully to lift him onto the ice. Pushing himself up on the ice, Duffiney spread out on the ice on his belly and pulled Grenier toward him by his arm. Simultaneously, France pushed on Grenier from behind and the two men pulled and pushed until he got onto the ice. Duffiney dragged Grenier to safety on thicker ice while France clawed his way up from the water. All three lay nearly exhausted on the ice, but no one was injured.
Jack France
Carnegie Medal 2025
Matthew Duffiney and Jack FranceOn March 10, 73-year-old Charles Grenier was riding a powersports vehicle across thin ice on Black River in Cheboygan, Michigan, when it broke through the ice and sank 13 feet to the bottom of the river. Grenier unbuckled his seat belt and swam to the water’s surface. Once there, he clung to the ice and shouted for help in the frigid water. Property caretaker Matthew Duffiney, 28, of Cheboygan, and his friend, irrigation company vice president Jack France, 28, also of Cheboygan, were ice fishing on the other side of the river when they saw Grenier plunge through the ice. Both men jumped on France’s powersports vehicle and raced over to the man in peril. They parked on thick ice, ran, and then walked, across increasingly thin ice as they approached Grenier. Duffiney crouched down and crawled on the ice to distribute his weight before he reached out to grab Grenier’s hands. The ice soon broke under him and he tumbled into the water head first. France also plunged into the water, and both men then moved to either side of Grenier. They grabbed his arms and tried unsuccessfully to lift him onto the ice. Pushing himself up on the ice, Duffiney spread out on the ice on his belly and pulled Grenier toward him by his arm. Simultaneously, France pushed on Grenier from behind and the two men pulled and pushed until he got onto the ice. Duffiney dragged Grenier to safety on thicker ice while France clawed his way up from the water. All three lay nearly exhausted on the ice, but no one was injured.
Lilly Baker
Carnegie Medal 2025
Lilly BakerAt an Ardmore, Tennessee, railroad crossing on Feb. 5, 2024, a 53-year-old woman struggled to walk across a set of train tracks while pushing her wheelchair in front of her. At the same time, a freight train approached at approximately 35 m.p.h., but it could not yet be heard or seen from the scene. High school student Lilly Baker, 18, from Elkmont, Alabama, was driving nearby and stopped to offer the woman a ride. Baker exited her vehicle to move toward the woman, but as she reached her the crossing arms came down, the bells and train horn sounded, and the train continued to rapidly approach. She moved behind the woman, grabbed her under the arms, spun her around, and began to walk backward while dragging her. Baker fell down twice but stood up about halfway to again grab the woman under her arms. She pulled as hard as she could as the two of them fell to the ground beside the tracks as the train passed and hit the woman’s legs. The woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital where she was treated for two broken ankles and severe lacerations on her legs. She recovered. Baker was not injured. The train’s operator indicated that the train came within 18 inches of striking Baker.
Jason Walker
Carnegie Medal 2025
Jason Walker, deceased, and Michael R. Deslauriers II, deceasedAbout 60 people – including 20 children – were inside a Lewiston, Maine, bowling alley on Oct. 25, 2023, when a 40-year-old man armed with an assault rifle entered and opened fire. Within three seconds of entering, the assailant killed an employee at the front counter and began to walk toward one set of crowded bowling lanes. The assailant’s gun jammed about a second after the initial shooting. 51-year-old construction worker Jason Walker and his lifelong friend, network engineer Michael R. Deslauriers II, 51, both from Sabattus, Maine, were with their partners in the bowling lane nearest the entrance. Walker immediately told his wife and Deslauriers’ partner to take cover before both men ran at the assailant, who was attempting to clear the jam with his back to them. Walker was slightly ahead and the assailant turned to face him with his gun raised. Walker leapt into the air in an attempt to kick the gun away, but the assailant managed to clear the jam and shot him in the left knee. He fell to the floor and Deslauriers ran past his friend to rush the assailant with his arms outstretched in an attempt to grab him or the gun. The assailant retreated backwards before he shot Deslauriers twice in the torso. He then moved back toward Walker and shot him three more times, including once fatally in the head. The assailant continued his attack as he moved toward the bowling lanes and killed five more people and wounded three others. He drove to a bar 4 miles away where he killed 10 more people and wounded 10 others. After an extensive manhunt, the assailant was found dead two days later from a self-inflicted gunshot. Walker and Deslauriers were pronounced dead at the bowling alley.
Michael R. Deslauriers II
Carnegie Medal 2025
Carol Colburn Grigor CBE is a philanthropist known for her significant contributions to the arts and cultural institutions, particularly through the Dunard Fund and the Colburn Foundation. Her work has had a lasting impact on musical and arts organizations in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries.The Dunard Fund, which she presides over, is a major supporter of the Edinburgh International Festival and has been instrumental in funding cultural projects in Scotland. She is also the chair of the Colburn Foundation, which was established by her father, Richard D. Colburn, to support music education and performing arts.Grigor was recognized for her philanthropic efforts in 2025 when she was named a recipient of the prestigious Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. This award honors individuals who have demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing global issues through their generosity.
Robert E. Chance
Carnegie Medal 2025
Robert E. ChanceDuring heavy rainfall in Spring, Texas, on May 28, 2024, 53-year-old Jeffrey Jones attempted to exit a flooded parking lot in poor visibility when he unintentionally drove into a drainage channel. His vehicle was pulled along the channel by fast-moving water before it eventually came to rest atop a submerged pipe and against the dividing column of a concrete culvert. Contractor Robert E. Chance, 38, from Conroe, Texas, was returning to a worksite when he drove over the culvert where Jones was stuck. Seeing Jones inside pounding on the windshield, Chance returned to his vehicle and retrieved a small homemade sledgehammer. He then jumped 2 feet from the road to the rain-slicked hood of the truck. Rushing water was beginning to fill the truck’s bed. Chance attempted to break the windshield with the hammer but was unsuccessful. He then climbed onto the roof and lowered himself into the bed of the truck. From there, Chance indicated to Jones that he was going to break the rear passenger window after he determined the rear windshield would be too small. With one strike of the hammer, Chance shattered the window and Jones climbed into the rear of the truck’s cab, Jones then moved to exit through the opening and placed his right foot on the windowsill. Chance helped steady Jones by leaning over the truck bed’s rail. He extended his right arm through the window opening to assist Jones and then helped him move into the truck’s bed. Both men climbed onto the roof of the truck and onto the hood where a bystander brought a collapsible ladder. They used the ladder to climb from the truck’s hood to safety atop the culvert. Both Jones and Chance suffered no ill effects.
Ralph Henry Reese
Carnegie Medal 2025
Ralph Henry Reese and Patrick HaskinDuring a morning lecture on Aug. 12, 2022, in Chautauqua, New York, Salman Rushdie, 75, was seated on an amphitheater stage preparing to speak at an event when a 24-year-old man, armed with a knife, ran up onto and across the stage and attacked Rushdie. The man stabbed Rushdie repeatedly. Rushdie stood and attempted to flee, but fell to the ground, the assailant leaping on top of him to continue his assault. Responding to the attack immediately was 73-year-old non-profit organization co-founder Ralph Henry Reese, from Pittsburgh, who was seated on stage with Rushdie, and, from backstage, event supervisor Patrick Haskin, 30, of Mayville, New York; and a communications director. The director ran at the assailant and dove, striking the assailant with his shoulder, knocking him off-balance and distracting him briefly. Meanwhile, Reese charged the assailant and held his legs down. At some point, Reese suffered a stab wound above his right eye, and the assailant managed to keep his upper body free to continue his attack on Rushdie. Haskin saw the assailant still had the knife and punched his arm in an unsuccessful attempt to loosen the assailant’s grip of the weapon. Haskin then laid facedown on the assailant’s upper body to hold him down. Rushdie was able to move a few feet away, out of the assailant’s reach, as he lay bleeding on the floor. Others from the audience responded, including a man who sat on the assailant’s back and held down his arm possessing the knife. Someone else managed to remove the knife from the assailant’s grasp and handed it off to someone in the audience area. On-site police and security soon responded to take the assailant into custody. The assailant was found guilty in state court of attempted murder and assault, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rushdie was flown to a hospital for his injuries, including 15 stab wounds, some of which required surgery. One wound blinded his right eye permanently. Reese was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was treated for the stab wound above his eye. He recovered. Haskin was not injured.
Patrick Haskin
Carnegie Medal 2025
Ralph Henry Reese and Patrick HaskinDuring a morning lecture on Aug. 12, 2022, in Chautauqua, New York, Salman Rushdie, 75, was seated on an amphitheater stage preparing to speak at an event when a 24-year-old man, armed with a knife, ran up onto and across the stage and attacked Rushdie. The man stabbed Rushdie repeatedly. Rushdie stood and attempted to flee, but fell to the ground, the assailant leaping on top of him to continue his assault. Responding to the attack immediately was 73-year-old non-profit organization co-founder Ralph Henry Reese, from Pittsburgh, who was seated on stage with Rushdie, and, from backstage, event supervisor Patrick Haskin, 30, of Mayville, New York; and a communications director. The director ran at the assailant and dove, striking the assailant with his shoulder, knocking him off-balance and distracting him briefly. Meanwhile, Reese charged the assailant and held his legs down. At some point, Reese suffered a stab wound above his right eye, and the assailant managed to keep his upper body free to continue his attack on Rushdie. Haskin saw the assailant still had the knife and punched his arm in an unsuccessful attempt to loosen the assailant’s grip of the weapon. Haskin then laid facedown on the assailant’s upper body to hold him down. Rushdie was able to move a few feet away, out of the assailant’s reach, as he lay bleeding on the floor. Others from the audience responded, including a man who sat on the assailant’s back and held down his arm possessing the knife. Someone else managed to remove the knife from the assailant’s grasp and handed it off to someone in the audience area. On-site police and security soon responded to take the assailant into custody. The assailant was found guilty in state court of attempted murder and assault, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rushdie was flown to a hospital for his injuries, including 15 stab wounds, some of which required surgery. One wound blinded his right eye permanently. Reese was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was treated for the stab wound above his eye. He recovered. Haskin was not injured.
Mark Anthony Batista
Carnegie Medal 2025
Mark Anthony Batista, deceasedLeann A. Batista, 11, was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off of Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, on June 9, 2023, when she began to struggle amid a rip current in cold water 75 feet away from shore. Near a rocky jetty, she began to wave her arms and scream for help. Her father, off-duty firefighter Mark Anthony Batista, 39, from Teaneck, New Jersey, was on the beach and immediately ran to the shoreline. Batista removed his sweatshirt, entered the water, and swam to Leann. She was taken farther from shore by the current and repeatedly submerged and resurfaced. Leann indicated that her father reached her, grasped her hand, and tried to swim with her back to shore. The current prevented them from returning to shore, and at some point, Batista released Leann’s hand and submerged. He did not resurface. Leann, too, submerged and resurfaced several more times before rescue swimmers entered the water. Leann was brought to shore and had swallowed a significant amount of water. She was taken to the hospital to have her lungs monitored and was released the next day. She recovered. A search for Batista was initiated and he was found about 90 minutes later near the jetty. He had drowned.
Robert Lee Piper
Carnegie Medal 2025
Robert Lee Piper, deceasedDuring the night of Nov. 6, 2023, in Independence, Missouri, a stolen sport-utility vehicle crashed on an interstate and came to rest on its roof in the middle lane. A 16-year-old boy inside the vehicle lay on the pavement with his legs still inside the vehicle or trapped beneath it while other juveniles fled the vehicle. Robert Lee Piper, 50, a construction supervisor from Blue Springs, Missouri, was a passenger in another vehicle and witnessed the accident. After pulling off the highway, Piper ran to the SUV and attempted to render aid to the boy. According to police, while vehicles slowed and passed the scene in the other two lanes, Piper tried to pull the juvenile from the wreck. A driver in a pickup truck approaching at 71 m.p.h. in the right lane hit the overturned SUV , also striking the teen and Piper. The impact knocked Piper 135 feet to the east and onto the opposite shoulder of the highway. He and the juvenile were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Josué Alfredo Contreras
Carnegie Medal 2025
Josué Alfredo ContrerasReina Alvarado, 67, and her husband Rene Alvarado, 71, were on the top floor of their three-story apartment in San Francisco, when a Jan. 13, 2023, fire engulfed the rear of the building. The fire started on the second floor and filled the top two floors with thick smoke that trapped them inside. Josué Alfredo Contreras, 35, from San Francisco, was working as a bouncer at a bar across the street when he smelled smoke and then saw the fire. Contreras ran to the building next to the one on fire to help an acquaintance evacuating his family when he heard a man shouting that his parents, the Alvarados, were upstairs. Contreras immediately ran inside and up the stairs to the third floor. He found Reina near the stairwell as the rear of the building burned and smoke continued to fill the apartment. Contreras held her by the arm and walked her down the stairs to safety. He returned inside and ran up the stairs as conditions inside the apartment worsened. Contreras found Rene sitting on his bed and dragged him out of the room. Unable to see because of the smoke, Contreras became disoriented and could not find the stairs. The lights flickered and momentarily illuminated the stairs. Contreras pushed Rene toward the stairs, then guided him outside to safety. The Alvarados were not injured. Contreras reported heaviness in his chest but recovered without medical treatment.
Dempsey Lavergne III
Carnegie Medal 2025
Dempsey Lavergne IIIOn July 15, 2022, 4-year-old Ellyse R. Mercer and her grandmother Pamela A. Dennis, 54, were inside a sport-utility vehicle that left a Vinton, Louisiana, road and continued down an embankment into a canal. The vehicle came to rest about 30 feet from a bank in the canal as its front end began to submerge in water 10 feet deep. Police sergeant Dempsey Lavergne III, 31, of Ragley, Louisiana, was alerted to the incident by his police radio and responded to the bank. Bystanders alerted him that Ellyse and Dennis were trapped in the vehicle when one bystander provided him with a pocket knife that had a glass-breaking tool. He descended the bank and removed his duty belt, ballistic vest, but kept his boots on before he waded and swam out to the vehicle. Water quickly filled the front-passenger compartment as Dennis moved to the rear, removed Ellyse from her car seat, and held her above the water. Lavergne heard them screaming and arrived at the rear of the vehicle, where he stood on the bumper and broke out the glass of the rear windshield. He reached inside to grasp Ellyse by an arm as Dennis handed her to him. Once Ellyse was out of the vehicle, he held her above the water’s surface and swam to shallow water. A bystander aided her to safety as Lavergne returned to the rear of the vehicle. He again partially entered through the rear-windshield where Dennis handed him a small dog. Lavergne exited and tossed the dog toward the bank where it swam to safety. Lavergne returned to the SUV’s rear and was joined by a police corporal. The SUV had almost completely submerged with only the roof visible and water filling the interior. By this point, Dennis was submerged. Lavergne climbed onto the roof and broke out the sunroof glass with the same tool. The corporal followed his lead onto the roof as Lavergne leaned inside through the broken-out sunroof. He submerged his head and found Dennis’ hand where he grasped it to lift her upward. Once her shoulders were above the opening, Lavergne and the corporal lifted her the rest of the way out. The corporal then towed Dennis to shallow water and was aided by another bystander to take her to safety on the bank. Lavergne, too, returned to the bank and exited the canal. Both Ellyse and Dennis were taken to the hospital by ambulance for scratches. Dennis had also swallowed water and broke her right ankle attempting to kick open the sinking vehicle’s window, which required surgery. They recovered. Lavergne was not injured.
Eddie Hunnell
Carnegie Medal 2025
Eddie HunnellDuring Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, 2024, the flooded North Fork New River knocked 66-year-old Leslie Worth’s Grassy Creek, North Carolina, home from its foundation. Worth jumped out of a window into the river while wearing a life jacket and was swept downstream in currents estimated at 8 m.p.h., along with her house, furniture, trees, and other debris. Eddie Hunnell, a 57-year-old software engineer from Holly Springs, North Carolina, was at a wedding rehearsal when he climbed into a canoe downstream while wearing a life vest and tried to paddle upstream to reach Worth, but he could not make progress against the current. He then said he had to opt for “Plan B.” Hunnell jumped overboard and swam to the middle of the river to intercept Worth, where he grabbed her life vest. He told her to float on her back and held onto her as the river carried them about 600 feet to an area where the river widened and grew calmer. There, Hunnell was able to swim 15 feet across the weakened current while towing Worth to an area where there was almost no current. He swam another 20 feet and reached an eddy where he was able to stand to help Worth out of the water with the help of bystanders. Worth was not injured. Hunnell was tired but not hurt during the rescue. Worth and her husband were strangers to the Hunnells prior to the rescue, but joined them at the rehearsal dinner.
Albert Adamkoski Jr.
Carnegie Medal 2025
Albert Adamkoski Jr., deceasedOn July 8, 2022, a party of eight people were relaxing and fishing at one end of an island in the Great Sacandaga Lake in Mayfield, New York. Olivia Adamkoski, 12, was playing with other children on a submerged sandbar when she encountered a steep underwater drop-off and was submerged. She resurfaced but panicked and struggled to swim. On a docked pontoon boat nearby, her father, 47-year-old preacher of Mayfield, New York, Albert Adamkoski Jr. heard Olivia call out for help and left the boat, ran along the island to the water’s edge, waded 15 feet, and then swam about 85 feet to Olivia, who was in water 9 feet deep. She continued to panic, submerging herself and Adamkoski at least twice before he successfully calmed her. He instructed his daughter onto his back so he could keep her afloat and then called out for the others on the boat to undock the vessel and assist them. After several minutes went by as members of the group launched the boat, Olivia moved from Adamkoski’s back to his side in an effort to remain afloat as they trod water. A man nearby had heard the commotion and entered the water to swim to Adamkoski and his daughter. The bystander retrieved Olivia from Adamkoski and told him to follow back to shore. At some point, as the man towed Olivia toward the island, Adamkoski submerged and did not resurface. The man and Olivia were intercepted by a boat piloted by Adamkoski’s group, and helped move her onto the boat. The boat returned to the island and delivered Olivia to safety. She had swallowed water during the incident and suffered from intermittent vomiting that lasted about an hour. She recovered. Adamkoski’s body was recovered about two hours later. He had drowned.
Trisha Munroe
Carnegie Medal 2025
Trisha Munroe and Alex MunroeIn the afternoon, on March 6, 2023, Will Munroe, 8, was outside playing with his 10-year-old brother in the snow at a cul-de-sac near their house in Windsor Junction, Nova Scotia, when an adult male German shepherd approached them. The dog ultimately bit Will’s arm and thrashed him back and forth on the ground. Will’s brother sought help and alerted their mother, elementary school teacher Trisha Munroe, 42, who left the house barefoot and in pajamas. When she arrived, Will was on the ground and the dog had one of his arms in its mouth. Munroe sat on the dog and put her hands in its mouth in an attempt to release its hold on him. Also responding to the scene from the house was Will’s eldest brother Alex Munroe, 13, who saw his mother struggling to control the dog. Alex entered the street and punched the dog on the head, which caused it to release Will and allowed him to move to safety in his driveway. The dog then bit Munroe’s right arm below the elbow as she remained seated on its back. Alex continued to punch the dog’s head, switching from a closed fist to a hammer fist, until it let go of Munroe’s right arm and then bit her left arm. Alex again punched the dog and it released Munroe’s other arm. An owner of the dog then arrived on scene and led the dog back home. Will was taken to the hospital by ambulance after he suffered injuries to his head and arm. He was treated for punctures to his right forearm and left bicep. Munroe was treated at the same hospital for the bites to her arms and bite to her right hand. Alex recovered from a sore hand in a few days.
Alex Munroe
Carnegie Medal 2025
Trisha Munroe and Alex MunroeIn the afternoon, on March 6, 2023, Will Munroe, 8, was outside playing with his 10-year-old brother in the snow at a cul-de-sac near their house in Windsor Junction, Nova Scotia, when an adult male German shepherd approached them. The dog ultimately bit Will’s arm and thrashed him back and forth on the ground. Will’s brother sought help and alerted their mother, elementary school teacher Trisha Munroe, 42, who left the house barefoot and in pajamas. When she arrived, Will was on the ground and the dog had one of his arms in its mouth. Munroe sat on the dog and put her hands in its mouth in an attempt to release its hold on him. Also responding to the scene from the house was Will’s eldest brother Alex Munroe, 13, who saw his mother struggling to control the dog. Alex entered the street and punched the dog on the head, which caused it to release Will and allowed him to move to safety in his driveway. The dog then bit Munroe’s right arm below the elbow as she remained seated on its back. Alex continued to punch the dog’s head, switching from a closed fist to a hammer fist, until it let go of Munroe’s right arm and then bit her left arm. Alex again punched the dog and it released Munroe’s other arm. An owner of the dog then arrived on scene and led the dog back home. Will was taken to the hospital by ambulance after he suffered injuries to his head and arm. He was treated for punctures to his right forearm and left bicep. Munroe was treated at the same hospital for the bites to her arms and bite to her right hand. Alex recovered from a sore hand in a few days.
Richie Alford
Carnegie Medal 2025
Richie Alford, deceasedTwo men were caught in a rip current in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City Beach, Florida, on June 15, 2023, during a period where conditions warranted red beach flags that indicated “no swimming.” Contractor Richie Alford, 52, from Lula, Georgia, who was a former firefighter, was sitting on the beach when he was alerted by a woman who asked someone to call 911. Alford ran into the surf and then swam out in the rip current toward the men, who were struggling about 70 feet from shore. The current swept Alford out and waves crashed over him. The rip current carried the two men farther out until it dissipated enough for them to swim parallel to the beach and they made their way back to shore on their own, uninjured. Meanwhile, Alford struggled in the water, fighting the current and the waves. Minutes later, witnesses saw him face-down in the surf. With difficulty, lifeguards used a rescue board as they struggled to move and keep Alford’s body on the board in the waves. First responders attempted life-saving measures on the beach and then took Alford to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had drowned.
Michael Anthony Castaneda
Carnegie Medal 2025
Michael Anthony CastanedaA woman’s sport-utility vehicle became immobilized on a railroad track between crossing gates that descended in Redlands, California, on Sept. 20, 2024, with her two children in car seats inside the vehicle. Off-duty sheriff’s deputy Michael Anthony Castaneda, 38, from Perris, California, was driving behind the SUV when he saw the crossing arms descend with the vehicle stopped on the tracks between the gates. Castaneda observed the woman exit the SUV to retrieve her 2-year-old daughter from the back seat on the driver’s side and stood her next to the vehicle, still on the tracks, in the path of an oncoming freight train moving about 10 m.p.h. The mother then partially entered the backseat to help the girl’s 5-year-old sister out of her car seat. Castaneda rightfully concluded that the woman would be unable to usher two children to safety in time. He exited his own vehicle to run about 50 feet to the SUV and grasp the 2-year-old girl before carrying her to safety beyond the railroad crossing while the mother emerged from the SUV holding her sister and took her to safety in the opposite direction. About five seconds later, the train struck the SUV. Castaneda then returned the girl, unharmed, to the mother. Castaneda was not injured.
Kennis Steven Goodman
Carnegie Medal 2025
Kennis Steven GoodmanA 74-year-old man was walking toward the photo department inside a Columbia, South Carolina, chain-store pharmacy on Jan. 14, 2025, when a 47-year-old man armed with a steak knife with 5-inch serrated blade approached him from behind, knocked him facedown to the floor, and repeatedly stabbed him. Delivery driver Kennis Steven Goodman, 34, from Mullins, South Carolina, was inside the pharmacy and saw the unfolding attack. Unarmed, Goodman charged toward the attack and kicked the assailant off the man. He then tackled the assailant, who outweighed him by about 50 pounds, and fought for control of the knife. Goodman seized the knife from the assailant and held the assailant to the floor while store employees tended to the man, who suffered wounds to his neck and upper body, also losing a lot of blood. Police took the assailant into custody as the man he attacked was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The man recovered in the following weeks and underwent physical therapy.
Aidan James Loughlin
Carnegie Medal 2025
Aidan James Loughlin and Justin BairdGlen Havers, 63, lay unconscious inside a second-floor doorway at the top of an interior staircase in a burning apartment building in St. Catharines, Ontario, on Dec. 6, 2023. Off-duty police officers Aidan James Loughlin, 24, and Justin Baird, 25, were walking about 400 feet away when they smelled and saw smoke. They saw windows shatter and flames, 20 feet high, pour out of the building. Both men ran to the scene and told bystanders recording the fire on their phones to call 911. Loughlin kicked and shattered a locked glass door before he climbed under the push bar, followed by Baird. The two men crawled up the stairs through heavy smoke and saw an open door at the top of the stairs. Loughlin entered through the doorway and tripped over Havers’ feet. He moved farther inside the room and bent over as the flames poured out of the doorway near the ceiling above him. He grabbed Havers by his boots with both hands and pulled him out to the stair landing, then passed Havers’ legs to Baird. Loughlin could feel his head getting hot and feared his hat had caught on fire, prompting him to discard it. Baird grabbed Havers’ legs as he started to crawl backward down the stairs while Loughlin held the man under his arms and slid down on his buttocks. They navigated around and stumbled over clutter on the stairs while carrying Havers to the first floor. The three men eventually made it outside to the sidewalk. Havers suffered severe burns to his head and face. He was hospitalized for several weeks but recovered. Loughlin suffered from smoke inhalation and was treated at an emergency room. Baird also recovered from smoke inhalation.
Justin Baird
Carnegie Medal 2025
Aidan James Loughlin and Justin BairdGlen Havers, 63, lay unconscious inside a second-floor doorway at the top of an interior staircase in a burning apartment building in St. Catharines, Ontario, on Dec. 6, 2023. Off-duty police officers Aidan James Loughlin, 24, and Justin Baird, 25, were walking about 400 feet away when they smelled and saw smoke. They saw windows shatter and flames, 20 feet high, pour out of the building. Both men ran to the scene and told bystanders recording the fire on their phones to call 911. Loughlin kicked and shattered a locked glass door before he climbed under the push bar, followed by Baird. The two men crawled up the stairs through heavy smoke and saw an open door at the top of the stairs. Loughlin entered through the doorway and tripped over Havers’ feet. He moved farther inside the room and bent over as the flames poured out of the doorway near the ceiling above him. He grabbed Havers by his boots with both hands and pulled him out to the stair landing, then passed Havers’ legs to Baird. Loughlin could feel his head getting hot and feared his hat had caught on fire, prompting him to discard it. Baird grabbed Havers’ legs as he started to crawl backward down the stairs while Loughlin held the man under his arms and slid down on his buttocks. They navigated around and stumbled over clutter on the stairs while carrying Havers to the first floor. The three men eventually made it outside to the sidewalk. Havers suffered severe burns to his head and face. He was hospitalized for several weeks but recovered. Loughlin suffered from smoke inhalation and was treated at an emergency room. Baird also recovered from smoke inhalation.
Roland V. Hueston III
Carnegie Medal 2025
Roland V. Hueston III, deceasedAt 2:40 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2022, a 38-year-old man laid on a subway track with a broken arm as an oncoming train was moving through a tunnel into Fordham Road station in New York City. Prior to this, several teenagers assaulted the man on the subway platform about 3.5 feet above the track. In the vicinity was New York building security officer Roland V. Hueston III, 36, who told the assailants to get away from the man, and then moved from the platform onto the track. As he attempted to aid the man, the eight-car train arrived in the station with Hueston closer to the lead car than the man. A train operator saw Hueston waving his arms on the track and applied the emergency brake to slow the train. Despite this effort, the train continued to advance toward Hueston, who unsuccessfully tried to climb back onto the platform. The train struck Hueston and stopped just short of striking the injured man, with only five train cars being fully in the station by the time it came to a full stop. The man suffered injuries to his face and torso. He was treated at a hospital. Hueston was pronounced dead at the scene.
Edward K. Grimmer
Carnegie Medal 2025
Edward K. GrimmerA 57-year-old man experiencing a mental health crisis fell approximately 25 feet from a Seattle bridge ledge at night on Oct. 7, 2024, and landed inches from a set of railroad tracks. He laid near the metal rail of the tracks with critical injuries and was unable to move as a train approached at about 35 m.p.h. On-duty Seattle police officer Edward K. Grimmer, 34, responded to the scene with two other officers and positioned himself on a rail platform near three parallel rail tracks just before the man fell. It was dark outside and Grimmer did not see precisely where the man landed. Regardless, Grimmer went across two sets of tracks before he spotted the man lying on the gravel inches from the middle set of tracks on which the train approached. Grimmer went to the man, grabbed him by the fabric of his hooded sweatshirt, and pulled him away from the tracks just as the train passed through. The train narrowly missed the man’s legs and Grimmer’s head by a couple feet as it took several minutes to pass. Grimmer stayed with the man until firefighters could safely cross the tracks to treat him and took him to a hospital. The man had several broken bones, including both arms and one leg, and facial and spinal fractures. He also had suffered trauma to his head and face from the fall. Grimmer was not injured.
Michael E. Coy
Carnegie Medal 2025
Michael E. CoySamuel D. Orbovich, 71, was driving on April 18, 2024, in St. Paul, Minnesota, when he swerved to avoid hitting another vehicle, causing him to strike a lamppost and guide rail. Leaking fuel ignited as the vehicle came to rest with the driver’s side inches from the guide rail adjacent to the highway, at the base of a grassy hillside. The flames spread beneath the vehicle to its passenger side and ignited the grass there. Delivery driver Michael E. Coy, 52, from St. Paul Park, Minnesota, was traveling on the same highway when he witnessed the accident. He immediately went to the scene, pulling on the handles of both doors on the driver’s side before he realized they were blocked by the guide rail. Coy ran around the vehicle as flames from beneath and beside the vehicle licked at his feet and lower legs. He opened the front, passenger door and kneeled on the seat but the flames caused him to move to prevent being burned. Coy helped Orbovich remove his seat belt, then helped him position himself to sit on the console with his feet against the driver’s door. He intended to drag Orbovich backwards out the door as other bystanders tried in vain to open the driver’s door or break the window. Flames soon entered the passenger compartment through the door opening and the dashboard, vents, and floorboards. Blistering heat forced Coy out through the passenger door as flames soon fully engulfed the passenger compartment and blocked Coy from re-entering. Coy called for others to break the window as he returned to the driver’s door, indicating that Orbovich would have to be removed feet-first. A state-highway worker used a window-punch tool and broke both driver’s-side windows. Orbovich pushed his legs through the front driver’s window opening as Coy and the others grasped his legs to pull him through the opening. They carried him to the highway and Coy, who had a history of emphysema, had to let go as he was having trouble breathing due to the smoke. The others took Orbovich farther to safety, setting him down on the highway behind a vehicle to shield him from the fiery conditions. Orbovich was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the accident. Coy was taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation and minor burns to his face, arms, and legs. Both men recovered.
Robert Hand
Carnegie Medal 2025
Robert HandA 10-year-old boy was wading in a calm section of the Selway River in Kooskia, Idaho, on July 13, 2024, when he entered the river’s main channel that had a swift current while trying to grasp an inflatable pool ring. The boy then struggled to swim against the current in water at least 7 feet deep and was pulled downstream. Robert Hand, a 50-year-old fisheries biologist from Lewiston, Idaho, was on a rocky beach nearby stowing equipment after completing a field expedition with a group of coworkers when he saw the boy struggling in the river. Hand was afraid the boy might be swept toward rapids farther downstream and did not take the time to retrieve nearby rescue aids out of fear the boy would be pulled too far away to assist him. Without hesitation, Hand ran to an access road along the river which allowed him to maintain eyes on the boy. He cut through a gravel parking lot to the river’s edge and entered the water to wade about 5 feet before diving into the water. Hand swam about 75 feet to the boy, who was panic-stricken, flailing, and putting all his effort to remain afloat. Hand reached and calmed him successfully before threading his left arm under the boy’s right arm. He used his left arm and shoulder to elevate the boy’s head while using his free arm to swim with the current about 150 feet. Hand swam 75 feet to wadable water in a nearby eddy and carried the boy to safety on land. Hand returned the boy to family members and remained with him for several minutes before returning to his group. The boy was visibly tired but otherwise unharmed. Hand was fatigued but did not suffer any ill effects.
A. J. Slater
Carnegie Medal 2025
A.J. SlaterAfter a car left a Lakeland, Florida, residential roadway and crashed into a tree on Nov. 7, 2024, flames broke out at the car’s front end with 3-year-old Walker Wills and his 5-year-old sister, JoLynn Wills, in car seats in the back-seat area. Their father was injured in the accident, exited the car, fell to the ground, and called for someone to help his children. Lakeland heavy equipment operator A.J. Slater, 30, was driving nearby when he saw the scene. As flames rose about 4 feet from the hood of the car, Slater opened the rear, driver’s-side door and leaned inside. Despite heavy smoke making it hard to see, Slater saw Walker’s knees in the closest car seat. Flames burned at the dashboard as Slater unbuckled Walker from the car seat, lifted him out of the seat, and set him down in grass nearby. Seeing Walker’s sister in another car seat, Slater climbed into the backseat area and sat between the car seats. He struggled to remove the sister from her seat as the fire spread toward the front-seat headrests. Sustaining burns to his hands, a shoulder and ear, Slater briefly exited the vehicle. When he returned, conditions had deteriorated and he could not save the girl. Slater moved Walker, and then dragged the father, farther away from the blaze. Firefighters soon responded to the scene and extinguished the fire. JoLynn, who remained inside the car, did not survive. Walker was burned on his face and right arm. He was hospitalized for 11 days. Slater was also hospitalized for 11 days and underwent two skin graft surgeries to help his hands heal. At the time of the Hero Fund investigation, he was still recovering from his injuries.
Alec Christian Larson
Carnegie Medal 2025
Alec Christian LarsonAfter a head-on crash in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on April 11, 2024, Jessica Tucker, 30, and her infant son remained inside her vehicle as flames ignited under the engine compartment from gas spilled on the roadway. Tucker had been badly injured with several broken bones while her son was strapped in his car seat. Carpet cleaner Alec Christian Larson, 27, from Rifle, Colorado, was in his work van with a co-worker when he saw the aftermath of the accident and responded, bringing a pair of scissors with him. He opened the driver’s door and helped Tucker out of the vehicle, who called out that her baby was still inside, as bystanders moved her away to safety. The flames on the roadway grew in intensity and the vehicle caught fire. Larson attempted to open the rear, driver’s-side door but was unable to do so. He ran to the back of the vehicle to open its hatch and saw the infant in a rear-facing child seat on the driver’s side. Larson climbed into the trunk area as the flames intensified. He fumbled to unbuckle the car seat before he cut the straps with scissors. Larson grabbed the infant and pulled him outside to safety. He handed the infant to bystanders, who carried him away from the burning wreck. About 10 seconds later, the vehicle was engulfed in flames. Tucker was hospitalized but not burned. The infant and Larson both avoided injuries.
Jeffrey Schmidt
Carnegie Medal 2025
Jeffrey SchmidtA 36-year-old truck driver was trapped inside of a burning tractor trailer after it overturned on an exit ramp and fell onto the shoulder of an Auburn, Washington, highway on May 2, 2022. Thick smoke threatened to suffocate him as flames began to burn his lower body. Among the motorists who stopped as the fire broke out was 30-year-old Jeffrey Schmidt, a nonprofit career coordinator from Gig Harbor, Washington. Learning the driver was still inside, he moved to the cab’s rear, where he kicked the window behind the driver’s seat, but was unable to break it open. Schmidt shouted for something to break the window and was handed a hammer by an unidentified man. He broke the window and crouched to reach inside. Schmidt grasped the driver’s body as the heat inside felt like reaching into an oven, he said. He repeatedly tugged at the driver, but could not free him. Schmidt suffered cuts and burns to his hands. Dark smoke issued through the window openings and melting plastic dripped onto Schmidt’s clothing. Another man joined Schmidt, reaching inside and grabbing an arm. Together, both men pulled the driver out of the cab and onto the shoulder. With help from others, Schmidt moved the driver to safety on a hillside, where they waited for arriving first-responders. The driver was hospitalized for three months and suffered burns on about half of his body, the worst of which were on his legs and feet. Schmidt, who served in the Marine Corps, was treated at a Veterans Affairs hospital for a blistering burn on his lower, right leg, as well as the cuts and burns to his hands.
John Reinhardt
Carnegie Medal 2025
John ReinhardtCaleb Bennett, 32, was fishing on a kayak in the Elk River in Elkmont, Alabama, on March 29, 2024, when the kayak overturned, tossing Bennett in the frigid water, where he struggled to swim. He attempted to swim across and exit the river, but he grew tired and managed to grasp a low-hanging tree branch that extended from the riverbank. Bennett fired multiple distress signal shots from a pistol he carried. In the vicinity was 40-year-old information technology project manager John Reinhardt from Athens, Alabama, who heard the gunshots as he exited his truck, recognizing the distress signal. Reinhardt told his children to stay in the truck and then searched along the riverbank for anyone in trouble. He saw Bennett grasping the branch 40 feet from the bank, returned to his truck to call 911, and fashioned a makeshift flotation device with a garbage bag and duct tape. He returned to the riverbank with his 13-year-old daughter. Reinhardt told her to call 911 again while he removed most of his clothes and entered the water with the garbage bag. He swam 40 feet to Bennett and gave the garbage bag to him. Reinhardt instructed Bennett to move to his back and wrap his arm around his shoulders. Reinhardt then swam with Bennett, who lost the garbage bag along the way. Reinhardt managed to swim to an exposed cluster of roots along the riverbank. The two men clung to the roots to keep from being swept downstream until a sheriff’s department sergeant and a firefighter arrived. It took several attempts but they were able to use a rope and ratchet strap to hoist Bennett up the steep riverbank to emergency personnel. They transported him to a hospital where he was treated for cold exposure and recovered. Reinhardt was cold but otherwise unharmed.
Cary Daniel Sullivent
Carnegie Medal 2025
Cary Daniel SulliventIn the Gulf of Mexico near South Padre Island, Texas, on July 4, 2024, Tabatha Sullivent, 47, waded in waist-deep water 150 feet from shore when an 8-foot-long bull shark took a bite out of her calf. She pushed the shark away with her hands and tried to swim toward shore while bleeding badly. Her husband, Cary Daniel Sullivent, 49, was sitting on the beach when he saw Tabatha in distress and sprinted into the surf to get to her. Bystanders ran into the water to help as Cary, a construction company owner of Celina, Texas, saw blood and grasped Tabatha at a point 75 feet from shore. As he pulled her toward shore, the shark attacked again. Upon a friend’s warning, Cary released his wife and turned to face the shark. At some point, the shark bit Cary’s leg. Cary dove onto the shark and landed a punch on its gill. He drove the shark away and waded toward shore to help others pull Tabatha onto the beach. Tabatha underwent surgeries and physical therapy to regain the partial use of her leg. Cary suffered gashes below his right knee and on his right foot, and a puncture wound on his right calf. He recovered.
Amari Quarles
Carnegie Medal 2025
Amari Quarles, deceasedWhile playing at a beach with his family in Sacramento, California, on June 4, 2023, 13-year-old Elijah J. Sashe attempted to retrieve a football that landed in the Sacramento River. The young teen stepped off the bank, fell into the water, and was taken farther out by a strong current. His brother, 15-year-old Amari Quarles, a student of Sacramento, saw his brother struggle and jumped into the cold water where he swam to reach him. Elijah was about 90 feet from the bank, but by the time Amari reached Elijah, the current had pulled him to a point that was about 180 feet from the bank. Amari positioned himself behind his brother, pushing him to keep him out of a nearby eddy. The boys’ father and stepmother also entered the river, but the father struggled in the strong current and swam back to the bank. The stepmother reached Elijah and held onto him. She saw Amari struggling about 20 feet away and decided to release Elijah. She told him to float before she swam to Amari. Both were pulled into the eddy and Amari submerged. He did not resurface. As a man in a boat responded, the boat’s wake pushed the stepmother out of the eddy. The boater aided Elijah and the stepmother onto the boat where both were then taken back to the river bank. Elijah was uninjured. Police divers found Amari’s body not far from where he was last seen. He had drowned.
Michelle Archer
Carnegie Medal 2025
Michelle ArcherAn 8-year-old girl was playing on an ice-covered pond in Cambridge, Vermont, on Dec. 17, 2023, when she broke through and fell into the frigid water. State trooper Michelle Archer, 32, of Williston, Vermont, was patrolling nearby when she heard the 911 call and responded to the scene. Archer entered the pond fully clothed and held a rescue bag with rope and a small flotation device. She waded out and swam to the unconscious girl floating on her back in water 8 feet deep. Archer grasped the girl’s jacket and held her above the water as she towed her toward the bank. Once in shallow water, Archer grasped the girl under her arms and dragged her onto the bank. She laid her on her back and began to perform a chest compression. The girl made audible noises as another trooper who responded took her to a waiting ambulance while Archer exited the pond. The girl was taken to the hospital where she stayed three days for treatment of hypothermia and near-drowning. Archer was cold after the rescue but did not seek medical treatment.
Troy White
Carnegie Medal 2025
Troy WhiteA 3-year-old girl was trapped inside a burning car after an Antioch, California, crash on May 21, 2024. The car had come to rest on the shoulder of a highway, overturned onto its passenger side. Maintenance worker Troy White, 40, from Brentwood, California, was driving nearby when he came upon the scene. He pulled over and ran to the vehicle just as the girl’s mother climbed through the driver’s window. She ran toward him and called out for help as he approached. The undercarriage burned near the engine compartment as the flames increased in height and intensity. White ran around the vehicle to the roof and jumped up. He supported himself on the rear, driver’s-side door frame and leaned inside, upside-down, through a broken window opening. The girl was dangling in her car seat on the opposite side of the vehicle with her foot against the pavement through the broken passenger-side window. White reached down and unhooked the car seat belt, grabbed the girl, then lifted her out of the vehicle. He carried her to safety and handed her to her mother. Firefighters arrived several minutes later to find the vehicle engulfed in flames. Soon an explosion occurred and the flames intensified. An ambulance took the girl and her mother to the hospital where they were treated for minor cuts to their faces. White was not injured.
Steven Jacob Shannon
Carnegie Medal 2025
Steven Jacob ShannonFifteen people were in a Houston barroom on Nov. 25, 2022, when a disgruntled, 30-year-old male customer re-entered with a semi-automatic pistol. From a stairwell at its entrance, the assailant fired several rounds into the ceiling before lowering the gun and firing a single shot in the direction of the bar, where most of the customers were gathered. Houston property manager Steven Jacob Shannon, 39, stood at an auxiliary bar across the room from the main bar where his wife and friends stood. Shannon dropped to his hands and knees at the sound of the gunshots before crouching and moving toward the assailant along his blind side as others scattered for cover. He then leaped head-first over a set of stadium-style seats and a railing bordering the stairwell as he attempted to tackle the assailant. Shannon managed to disarm the assailant and then drove him through an open doorway. Once the two were outside, Shannon continued to march the assailant backward until the duo toppled over a city bikeshare station. With the man on the ground, Shannon wrestled with the assailant and eventually secured him in a jiu-jitsu chokehold until police arrived. The assailant was arrested and no one in the barroom was injured. Shannon suffered a concussion and bruising as a result of his actions to save everyone in the bar. He recovered.
Devin John Moore
Carnegie Medal 2025
Devin John MooreAbout an hour before dawn on Feb. 20, 2024, a vehicle left a Waldron, Indiana, highway, and crashed into a tree. A fire soon broke out with a 46-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman still inside. Off-duty police officer Devin John Moore, 38, of Greensburg, Indiana, was driving nearby when he saw the accident and pulled onto the shoulder to report it. Flames intermittently flared on the car’s front end, rising as high as 3 feet, and there was a small fire beneath the area of the front seats. Moore jogged to the opened front, passenger door as the man and woman called for help. Dark-grey smoke filled the interior as Moore popped a side airbag with a knife. He leaned inside and cut the man’s seat belt to grab him by the arm. Moore escorted the man out of the car, and he stood, hunched over near the car. Moore ran around to the driver’s side where he unsuccessfully attempted to open the driver’s door and break out the window. He then returned to the passenger side as smoke flowed out through the open door and flames again flared at the hood. Fire burned on the floorboard near the woman as Moore opened the rear, passenger door and released a large plume of smoke. Moore moved inside and was soon enveloped in smoke. He immediately retreated and returned to the front, passenger door to lean inside. He removed the woman’s seat belt, grasped her, and pulled her across the center console, out of the car, and to the ground. The woman was unable to walk on her own, so Moore dragged her to the vehicle’s rear and the fire shortly accelerated. The flames soon engulfed the vehicle as Moore pulled the woman farther away. Moore then guided the man away when he suddenly collapsed. Despite efforts by Moore and first-responders, the man could not be revived and died at the scene. The woman was treated at a hospital for her injuries, including burns. Moore inhaled smoke and was treated for a persistent cough six days after the rescue. He then recovered.
Justin Scott Slater
Carnegie Medal 2025
Justin Scott SlaterAt 2 a.m. July 31, 2024, a 34-year-old woman struggled and called for help after she jumped off a drawbridge into the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. Justin Scott Slater, a 38-year-old contractor from Toledo, was fishing with his father on a dock near the bridge when they heard a splash in the darkness. Slater’s father called 911 while he called to the woman and told her to swim toward his voice. As police arrived, Slater removed his shirt and shoes to jump into the water despite being warned by an officer. Slater dived in and swam about 195 feet to reach the woman, who had gone limp with her mouth and hands barely above the water. The rest of her body was submerged when Slater managed to grab her and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He then wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her with a bear hug until she coughed. Slater then placed one arm around her chest and wrapped his legs around her waist. Using his free arm, Slater swam with the woman to the dock where police secured her with a rope and the fire department’s dive team pulled her out. The woman was taken to a hospital. Slater was uninjured.
Joseph Hugh West
Carnegie Medal 2025
Joseph Hugh West, deceasedA young girl struggled to swim in at least 6 feet of water in the Atlantic Ocean near Kure Beach, North Carolina, on July 1, 2023. She was amid a rip current just off a sandbar about 150 feet from shore. Joseph Hugh West, a 58-year-old retiree of Sanford, North Carolina, was on the beach nearby with several friends and family when he saw the girl and two others struggling to swim. West told a male friend to retrieve a life ring from a nearby aid station while he and two female friends entered the water. The conditions worsened farther from shore, and one of the women was forced to exit the water. West and the other woman continued to swim toward the struggling swimmers along with the male friend who had the life ring. The trio eventually reached the distressed swimmers. West swam to the girl while the man and woman assisted the other two swimmers. West reached the girl and requested the life ring, which was thrown to him by one of the friends and he successfully delivered the ring to the girl and another man who had swum out to her separately. Eyewitnesses on the beach indicated that West was then pulled farther from shore and out of sight by the rip current. The male friend managed to swim one of the people in danger to shore just as emergency personnel responded and assisted the remaining swimmers to safety, including the girl. West was located unconscious minutes later by emergency personnel. He had drowned.
Jared Moore
Carnegie Medal 2025
Jared MooreIn a remote area near Killaloe, Ontario, on Feb. 24, 2024, Janice and Marvin Junop were riding snowmobiles across Round Lake when Janice, 55, attempted to cross an area of open water and her snowmobile sank 38 feet to the bottom. Having made it across the opening first, Marvin, 57, turned around to go back to help her. Off-duty police officer, Jared Moore, 25, of Pembroke, Ontario, was with his mother walking on a solid part of the lake ice about a half-mile away when they saw Janice’s vehicle plunge into the water. His mother ran to the family cottage on the shore to find a rope, while Moore sprinted toward the open water. Moore and Marvin shouted to Janice to swim to the edge of the ice. While standing on ice no more than 3 inches thick, they tossed a rope retrieved from Marvin’s snowmobile. Janice was too cold to grab the rope. Marvin then jumped into the open water, swam to Janice, and pushed her toward the edge. While Marvin pushed Janice from behind, Moore grabbed her arms and pulled her part of the way out, then grabbed her legs to pull her the rest of the way out. Moore then returned to the edge of the ice and pulled out Marvin. Janice was treated at a hospital and suffered from hypothermia, but she recovered. Marvin and Moore were not injured during the incident.
Lynn William Segebart
Carnegie Medal 2025
Lynn William SegebartEnrique F. Velasquez, 21, was pumping fuel at a Palm Springs, Florida, gas station on Jan. 1, 2024, when a 43-year-old man armed with a sheetrock jab saw approached him from behind and said, “I’m going to kill you.” The man then began to stab Velasquez repeatedly with the 6-inch serrated blade. Velasquez tried to retreat, but fell backward to the ground. Now on top of Velasquez, the assailant continued his assault. Lynn William Segebart, a 61-year-old merchandiser from Lantana, Florida, was inside the gas station’s convenience store when he heard a loud scream and saw the assailant stabbing Velasquez. Segebart immediately ran to them and positioned himself on the assailant’s back, grasped the assailant’s hands, and told him to let go of the weapon. He extended both of the assailant’s hands to the ground to prevent him from further harming Velasquez. The assailant was heavier than Segebart and would not release the weapon. He bit Segebart’s arm. Segebart responded by headbutting the assailant three times and dazed him. The assailant loosened his grip and Segebart pulled the jab saw from the hands of the assailant before throwing it 10 feet away. Segebart and another man who responded pulled the assailant from Velasquez. The man who helped held the now-disarmed assailant down to the pavement until police arrived and took him into custody. Velasquez was taken to the hospital for treatment of several stab wounds. Segebart suffered a cut and bite wound and was treated at the scene. He recovered.
Charles J. Sergel
Carnegie Medal 2025
Charles J. SergelFive-year-old Anna Barone was trapped by smoke and flames inside a first-floor bathroom of a barn her father used as a workshop near her home in South Wales, New York, on April 17, 2024. Welder Charles J. Sergel, 51, of Java Village, New York, was driving past the Barone home with his 10-year-old son when he noticed smoke coming from the workshop. He pulled over on the side of the road and ran 300 feet up the driveway. Anna’s 16-year-old sister was outside the workshop and told Sergel that Anna was still inside. Sergel entered through a garage door and immediately encountered heavy smoke that extended from the ceiling to his knees. He pulled his sweatshirt over his mouth and walked slightly bent over as he called out for Anna. Sergel initially heard no response until he eventually heard Anna whimpering and turned toward the sound. Sergel ran through a flaming door frame into the bathroom and found Anna sitting in a water-filled utility sink with flames burning on the ceiling above. Anna had climbed into the sink and turned on the water for refuge. Sergel picked up Anna and, carrying her, ran back through the bathroom doorway, through a maze of objects, and exited the workshop the same way he entered. Anna was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, where she was treated for smoke inhalation and burns. She was released after two days and has since recovered. Sergel was also treated for smoke inhalation at a hospital and was released the same day; he recovered.
Gary J. Lawson
Carnegie Medal 2025
Gary J. Lawson and Cody M. McCreadyAfter 4 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2024, a 38-year-old woman under the influence of drugs and alcohol struggled to swim in the cold, fast-moving water of the Russian River near Guerneville, California. The rain-swollen river was estimated to be at least 10 feet deep and surged faster than normal. On-duty police officer Gary J. Lawson, 48, of Santa Rosa, California, responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call at a nearby sheriff’s office. He ran down to the water’s edge where he spotted the woman in the water. Lawson removed his ballistic vest, boots, duty belt, and overshirt before donning an unbuckled life vest. Lawson entered the water and swam about 75 feet to the woman, who resisted his help, and submerged Lawson multiple times as they continued floating about 1,000 feet downriver. He managed to grasp the woman by the shirt, to control her as she continued to resist, and swam with her about 50 feet toward a partially submerged island closer to the opposite bank. Lawson maneuvered both himself and the woman to a thicket of exposed tree branches along the island’s submerged riverbank. He reached out, grasped a branch, and stopped their momentum. Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputy Cody M. McCready, 34, of Santa Rosa, arrived on the near riverbank and ran along it until he saw Lawson and the woman. After removing his own equipment, he entered a shallow but fast-moving channel between the island and the riverbank without a life vest. McCready waded into the water until he encountered a steep drop off and swam the rest of the way. Once he reached Lawson and the woman, McCready positioned his foot on a branch and helped to restrain the woman as she continued to frantically scratch and claw with her hands at both men. Within minutes, firefighters arrived in a rescue boat and removed the woman from the water. They transported her to a nearby beach where she was arrested. The firefighters then helped Lawson and McCready where both men were taken to emergency personnel on land. McCready was cold and tired, but was otherwise unharmed. Lawson, who had spent 25 minutes in the water, was shivering uncontrollably. He also sustained some scratches from the woman struggling, but he soon recovered.
Cody M. McCready
Carnegie Medal 2025
Gary J. Lawson and Cody M. McCreadyAfter 4 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2024, a 38-year-old woman under the influence of drugs and alcohol struggled to swim in the cold, fast-moving water of the Russian River near Guerneville, California. The rain-swollen river was estimated to be at least 10 feet deep and surged faster than normal. On-duty police officer Gary J. Lawson, 48, of Santa Rosa, California, responded to the scene after receiving a 911 call at a nearby sheriff’s office. He ran down to the water’s edge where he spotted the woman in the water. Lawson removed his ballistic vest, boots, duty belt, and overshirt before donning an unbuckled life vest. Lawson entered the water and swam about 75 feet to the woman, who resisted his help, and submerged Lawson multiple times as they continued floating about 1,000 feet downriver. He managed to grasp the woman by the shirt, to control her as she continued to resist, and swam with her about 50 feet toward a partially submerged island closer to the opposite bank. Lawson maneuvered both himself and the woman to a thicket of exposed tree branches along the island’s submerged riverbank. He reached out, grasped a branch, and stopped their momentum. Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputy Cody M. McCready, 34, of Santa Rosa, arrived on the near riverbank and ran along it until he saw Lawson and the woman. After removing his own equipment, he entered a shallow but fast-moving channel between the island and the riverbank without a life vest. McCready waded into the water until he encountered a steep drop off and swam the rest of the way. Once he reached Lawson and the woman, McCready positioned his foot on a branch and helped to restrain the woman as she continued to frantically scratch and claw with her hands at both men. Within minutes, firefighters arrived in a rescue boat and removed the woman from the water. They transported her to a nearby beach where she was arrested. The firefighters then helped Lawson and McCready where both men were taken to emergency personnel on land. McCready was cold and tired, but was otherwise unharmed. Lawson, who had spent 25 minutes in the water, was shivering uncontrollably. He also sustained some scratches from the woman struggling, but he soon recovered.
Carnegie Medal Laureates (2030 ~ 2021)
Annie Bilotta, Tisch Schmidt-Williams, Aune Tietz & Erica Wolf
Carnegie Medal 2024
Five women, all part of the same cycling team, were riding on a remote, forest trail near Fall City, Washington, on Feb. 17, 2024, when a cougar lunged at 60-year-old Keri Bergere, jumped onto her back, pushing her off her bicycle into a ditch. The juvenile male cougar that weighed about 75 pounds, proceeded to bite into Bergere’s jaw and insert its claws into her neck and shoulders. A second cougar was spotted, but it ran off before the attack started. Riding approximately 200 feet behind Bergere was retired gardener Annie Bilotta, 64, and real estate broker Aune Tietz, 59, both from Seattle, who witnessed the cougar attack. Bilotta and Tietz screamed and immediately biked to Bergere. This alerted two other riders who were in front of Bergere, Seattle attorney Erica Wolf, 51, and salesperson Tisch Schmidt-Williams, 58, from North Bend, Washington. They both had not seen the attack. Bilotta approached the cougar and immediately jumped on the animal. Tietz arrived around the same time and was able to pull the cougar’s hind legs off Bergere. Bilotta and Tietz yelled to their teammates up ahead to call 911 and grab rocks and sticks to help. Schmidt-Williams ran over with a rock and a few sticks, and she began to fight the animal. With her bike, Wolf went to the scene while attempting to call 911, but the call dropped in the remote area. Wolf discarded her phone and bicycle, retrieved a stick, and also began to fight the cougar. Bilotta pulled one of the animal’s paws off of Bergere and stuck her hand into its mouth, hoping to pry open its jaw to release her friend. The four women battled the cougar for 15 minutes. As the cougar started to readjust its bite, Bilotta shouted for Bergere to move away as Tietz pulled the animal’s head back. As Bergere rolled away, Wolf almost simultaneously picked up her bicycle and the four women worked together to pin the cougar to the ground with it. The women then stood on the bicycle for another 30 minutes. At some point, two other cyclists arrived and helped hold the cougar down. They stood on top of the bicycle until a fish and wildlife officer arrived and shot and killed the cougar. Bergere was taken to a hospital for multiple jaw fractures, facial nerve damage, and lacerations on her face, ears, neck, shoulders, arms, and back. Each of the four women sustained minor cuts or bruises but were otherwise uninjured and recovered.
John Parks
Carnegie Medal 2024
Bennett Roth, 69, was walking after nightfall along a six-lane street in Washington, District of Columbia, on Jan. 11, 2024, when a vehicle stopped beside him and multiple people in ski masks and dark clothing exited. One man pointed a handgun at Roth as he backed up and was shoved to the ground. Roth shouted for help as he was held at gunpoint and the assailants ordered him to stay still. Across the street with friends was Washington housing development manager John Parks, 26, who saw the start of the assault and two of the assailants hovering over Roth. Unarmed, Parks shouted at the assailants and darted around traffic to make his way to the scene. Despite seeing that two of the attackers had handguns pointed at Roth, Parks continued to shout and approach Roth. They pointed their guns at him, but Parks continued to advance anyway. The assailants then backed away and returned to the vehicle to flee. The vehicle sped away from the scene and Parks’ group flagged down an approaching police officer after they called 911. Police are still investigating the incident. Roth had scratches and scrapes from the attack but recovered. Parks was not injured.
Christopher and Joseph Novecosky
Carnegie Medal 2023
Two preteen sisters were playing in Lake Michigan off of Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 27, 2023, when they both began to struggle at a point beyond wadable water. They fought to remain above the surface in the choppy current when their stepmother entered the water to help them, but she quickly also struggled in the water. Earlier that day, weather officials warned of life-threatening waves and dangerous currents in the lake. Two off-duty sheriff’s deputies from Kenosha, Christopher Bischoff, 34, and Kelsey Schwuchow, 30, were on the beach when they were alerted to the situation. Both waded into the surf and swam out to the girls. Bischoff reached one girl and tucked her against his body, while Schwuchow concurrently went to her sister and grabbed onto her. Bischoff attempted to swim toward shore but had difficulty swimming with the panicked girl. He tried to submerge while holding the girl with her head above the water, intermittently resurfacing for air himself, and pushed her forward while walking underwater. He quickly tired after he struggled toward shallow water. He swallowed water, resurfaced, and separated from the girl. Schwuchow tried to swim with the panicked sister toward shore, but she too swallowed water and separated from the girl who remained near her sister and stepmother. As the waves moved both girls closer to shore, Bischoff regained a hold of the girl he initially helped, towed her into wadable water, and she returned to the beach. Schwuchow grasped the sister’s arm and pulled her to Bischoff’s partner to guide her back to the beach. Schwuchow then swam to the stepmother, who was floating on her back, and dragged her into shallow water to be helped by her partner and Bischoff. Both girls and the stepmother were taken to a hospital for treatment. Bischoff and Schwuchow were nearly exhausted and went to the hospital as a precaution, where they were discharged that evening.
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Sara Schaller
Carnegie Medal 2023
A 14-year-old girl and her 18-year-old cousin were swimming in Lake Michigan off Porter, Indiana, when they were caught in a rip current and waves 4 feet high on June 20, 2023. The current swept them out about 300 feet from shore into cold water about 10 feet deep. Sara Schaller, a 42-year-old veterinary nurse from Hammond, Indiana, was walking on the beach with her 4-year-old daughter when she was alerted to the situation. Schaller asked a woman to watch her daughter and waded out into the surf as waves crashed down on her. The water deepened and Schaller swam to the girl, who by then was fading in and out of consciousness. She grabbed the girl under both arms and swam about 150 feet toward the beach until she touched bottom on a sandbar. Schaller slowly dragged the girl to shallow water as waves crashed over them and eventually pulled her to the beach. Another beachgoer swam out to the cousin, who was unresponsive and had been washed closer to the shore by the waves. The cousin was brought back to shore with the help of others and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Paramedics treated the girl and she recovered at the hospital. Schaller was exhausted but uninjured.
John Cheng & Billy Chang
Carnegie Medal 2022
At least 45 people were in the social hall of a Laguna Woods, California, church following a May 15, 2022, luncheon, when a 68-year-old man armed with two semi-automatic pistols fired one of the guns multiple times, injuring five elderly congregants. As people fled or took cover, sports and family medicine doctor John Cheng, 52, from Laguna Niguel, California, was seated at a table about 25 feet away from the assailant. After hearing the first shot, Cheng stood up and charged the assailant rather than fleeing toward available exits or shelter. Cheng pushed the assailant around his upper torso and both men fell to the floor beneath a table. A struggle ensued between the two men, and the assailant shot Cheng three times in the chest. The assailant stood up and struggled to either reload or unjam his weapon. Pastor Billy Chang, 67, from Taipei City, Taiwan, stepped down from a stage about 20 feet away and advanced toward the assailant. Chang was within a few feet of the assailant when he picked up a chair and struck the assailant’s back. The strike caused the assailant to fall to the floor, facedown, and Chang held the assailant down by his head, neck, and hand. Chang shouted for others to help when three men and Chang’s wife responded. The wife took the gun to a different room and returned to the scene. The three men, Chang, and his wife used an extension cord to tie the assailant’s hands behind his back and they restrained him until police arrived. It was then that the assailant’s second gun was found in an ankle holster. He was taken into custody. The four men and one woman who were also shot survived their injuries. Chang was not injured during the incident. Cheng died from his gunshot wounds.
Daniel L. Weiss
Carnegie Medal 2022
A 29-year-old woman was unconscious in the driver’s seat of her two-door coupe after a May 17, 2022, accident in which the car left a Greensboro, North Carolina, rural road and continued down an embankment for about 25 feet, where it struck two trees and caught fire. Facility technician Daniel L. Weiss, 59, from Stokesdale, North Carolina, was working on a utility pole nearby when he heard the roaring motor of a vehicle and saw car parts flying through the air. Weiss responded, ran down the embankment, and approached the driver’s door. He saw the woman in the driver’s seat unconscious and slumped over the steering wheel. He reached through the window opening and shook her in an attempt to wake her, but she did not respond. Weiss felt for a pulse when he noticed flames burning at the hood of the car that spread inside through the dashboard and air vents. He called to his co-worker for a fire extinguisher, and once it was retrieved, Weiss emptied the extinguisher. Despite the effort, the flames continued to burn at the hood. Weiss pulled on the handle of the driver’s door, but it would not open. He ran to the passenger side door and fully entered the vehicle by kneeling on the seat, where he then turned the woman, so she faced away from him. Weiss reached his arms around her from behind and clasped his hands together. He lifted her over the center console onto the passenger seat as the flames grew and spread to within a foot of them. Weiss backed through the passenger door opening and fell with the woman to the ground. Two men responded to the scene and helped Weiss carry the woman 20 feet away after seeing fire envelop the front seats. The flames continued to grow and engulf the vehicle’s entire cab. The woman was not burned but was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the accident. Weiss suffered minor smoke inhalation and recovered.
Daniel Rose & David Chapman
Carnegie Medal 2022
An 8-year-old boy fell unconscious to the ground, his body smoking, after being electrocuted on Aug. 30, 2022, by a live wire that had been downed above a residential street in Warren, Michigan. The power line was hanging hazardously low about 5 feet above the street when the boy, his friend, and older brother came upon the scene. Despite yellow caution tape around the area, the boys approached the wire, and the 8-year-old grabbed onto it with both hands. Police officers Daniel Rose, 43, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, and David Chapman, 35, from Detroit, were nearby when they heard the call come across their radios; they both went to the scene, where the boy lay under the live line. Rose went to his hands and knees and crawled beneath the power line. He grasped the boy’s left ankle as Chapman crouched under the power line and grabbed the boy’s other ankle. The two officers pulled the boy about 10 feet away from the power line. Rose felt an electrical charge in his arm and Chapman felt his hand burning. They released the boy but returned to render additional first aid. When the boy regained consciousness, Rose, Chapman, and another officer carried the boy to a police car and took him to a nearby hospital. The boy sustained serious injuries, including burns on both hands. Rose was examined at the hospital and had numbness in his right arm from the electrical shock for a few hours. He recovered. Chapman was examined at the hospital but did not require treatment.
Antwaun M. Jackson
Carnegie Medal 2022
Antwaun M. Jackson died helping to save two women and two children from drowning, North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, July 9, 2022. In the afternoon, several relatives, including two women, 33 and 24, and two girls, 7 and 6, were in the New River Inlet near its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean as the group of four reached a location where they no longer could touch the bottom. Suddenly struggling in a strong current after helping the girls use a bodyboard in shallow water, the women called out for help, alarming their relatives at the nearby beach, including Jackson, 40, production worker. A cousin of the two women and two girls, Jackson waded into the water, first moving toward other children closer to shore, then he swam to the area of the women, along with another female cousin, who helped the girls onto a bodyboard. The women recalled Jackson, who had moved beyond them, trying to push them from behind toward shore. Seeing a cluster of distressed swimmers, including Jackson, other men from separate groups also entered the water and helped to aid the women, girls, and female cousin back to safety in wadable water. All recovered without injury. Jackson remained stranded in the rough current and beyond the reach of some men and responding police officers, who took a rescue disc attached to a rope into the water which was thrown in Jackson’s direction to no effect. Ultimately, Jackson submerged, did not resurface, and could not be found by rescue crews that afternoon or in the days afterward. Jackson’s body has yet to be recovered.
Rolando Rene Caballero
Carnegie Medal 2021
Halil Cakmaktas, 70, was fishing from a narrow, concrete pier near a channel connecting Keith Lake to the Port Arthur Ship Canal in Port Arthur, Texas, on July 21, 2021, when he fell into the fast-moving water. Crane operator Rolando Rene Caballero, 63, from Port Arthur, was baiting crabs on the shore near the pier with his wife when she heard Cakmaktas call out for help. Caballero instructed his wife to retrieve a bundle of rope from their car. She retrieved the rope and Caballero moved onto the pier where he attempted to throw one end of it to Cakmaktas. After several unsuccessful attempts, Caballero returned to his wife on shore and tied the rope around his waist. He waded about 10 feet into the water before swimming about 40 feet toward Cakmaktas. Caballero was within an arm’s length of Cakmaktas when Cakmaktas submerged and could not be located. Caballero shouted to his wife to pull him back to shore. She pulled the rope, but soon realized it had come untethered from Caballero. Caballero’s wife could still see him and called out instructions to him to lay on his back and attempt to float. The strength of the current pulled Caballero underwater. Firefighters located Caballero’s body about 30 minutes after he submerged. He had drowned. Cakmaktas’ body was recovered by police about an hour after he submerged. He, too, had drowned.
Carnegie Medal Laureates (2020 ~ 2019)
Kevin James Schell
Carnegie Medal 2020
Three men in their 20s were on a recreational pier in Bracebridge, Ontario, that extended over the Muskoka River on August 24, 2020, when one of them accidentally entered the water. The man was a poor swimmer as he struggled to stay afloat in 30 feet of water, with dangerous, unpredictable currents caused by a waterfall and a man-made dam upriver from the pier. Several onlookers witnessed the man struggling, including corrections officer Kevin James Schell, 51, of Bracebridge, who was on a nearby bench with his adult daughter. One of the bystanders entered the water and swam to the man, and attempted to calm him, but he continued to panic. She attempted to calm him once more before she disengaged and exited the water in search of a flotation device. During that time, Schell and his daughter searched for the life preserver from a nearby life preserver rack, but it could not be found. Schell told his daughter to call 911 before he ran 60 feet to the end of the pier and entered the water. He swam about 10 feet to the man and was reportedly within an arm’s length of him. Two more bystanders who also witnessed the incident entered the water immediately after Schell and swam to the man. At some point, Schell submerged. The two bystanders guided the man to a nearby buoy before they placed a life jacket on him and swam him back to the pier and first-responders. The man had inhaled water, but he recovered. Divers searched for more than six hours before they located Schell’s body some 30 feet south of where he was last seen. He had drowned.
Carnegie Medal Laureates (1998)