The Carnegie Hero Fund is honored to recognize 17 individuals, including two dads who died saving their children from drowning, a 13-year-old boy who saved his brother and mom from an attacking dog, and three individuals, who, in separate acts, pulled people out of the paths of oncoming trains.
All the men and women recognized today, including four Canadians and 13 Americans, in acts of extraordinary heroism, risked serious injury or death, or were killed, saving or attempting to save others. This is the Hero Fund’s second award announcement for 2025. Each individual will receive the Carnegie Medal for Heroism, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism.
Among those saved by this quarter’s Carnegie Medal recipients were six children, including a 4-year-old girl who, with her grandmother, was trapped in a submerging vehicle in a Louisiana canal, and 10 adults, including a woman who was trapped on the second story of her home as floodwater moved it off of its foundation and began carrying it down a North Carolina river amid 2024’s Hurricane Helene.
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 10,510 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 121 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, more than $45 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
The recipients are:
Mark Anthony Batista, deceased Teaneck, New Jersey
Robert Lee Piper, deceased Blue Springs, Missouri
Josué Alfredo Contreras San Francisco
Dempsey Lavergne III Ragley, Louisiana
Eddie Hunnell Holly Springs, North Carolina
Albert Adamkoski Jr., deceased Mayfield, New York
Trisha Munroe Windsor Junction, Nova Scotia
Alex Munroe Windsor Junction, Nova Scotia
Richie Alford, deceased Lula, Georgia
Michael Anthony Castaneda Perris, California
Kennis Steven Goodman Mullins, South Carolina
Aidan James Loughlin St. Catharines, Ontario
Justin Baird St. Catharines, Ontario
Roland V. Hueston III, deceased New York
Edward K. Grimmer Seattle
Michael E. Coy St. Paul Park, Minnesota
Robert Hand Lewiston, Idaho
To nominate someone for the Carnegie Medal, complete an online nomination form at carnegiehero.org or write to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, 436 Seventh Ave., Suite 1101, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. More information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at carnegiehero.org. Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/carnegiehero, Instagram: @carnegiehero, and Twitter: @carnegie_hero.
Mark Anthony Batista, deceased
Leann 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, deceased
During 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
Reina 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
On 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
During 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., deceased
On 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 and Alex Munroe
In 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, deceased
Two 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.
Kennis Steven Goodman
A 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.
Michael Anthony Castaneda
A 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.
Aidan James Loughlin and Justin Baird
Glen 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, deceased
At 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
A 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
Samuel 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
A 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.