Carnegie Hero Fund President Eric Zahren presented the Carnegie Medal to Dustin Colson Leaning at a private presentation held Oct. 27 in Boston with friends and family members in attendance.
Colson Leaning was awarded the medal after his June 30, 2025, rescue of a 37-year-old man from drowning in the Mississippi River near La Crescent, Minnesota.
The man had been driving a pickup truck on an interstate when he suddenly felt faint. After pulling into a rest area, he lost consciousness and crashed through brush into the river. Colson Leaning, 32, of Boston, was parked at the rest area with his partner when they heard the crash. The two ran to the shoreline, where they saw the pickup floating about 60 feet from shore.
While his partner called 911, Colson Leaning entered the river and swam to the truck, which was submerged to its door handles. Inside, he saw the semiconscious driver bleeding from the face as water poured into the cab.
As the current carried the truck farther from shore, Colson Leaning attempted to open several doors without success. He then braced his feet against the truck and pulled open the rear driver’s-side door as the vehicle began to sink. With water rushing into the cab and forcing the door closed, Colson Leaning wedged his shoulder and foot between the door and frame to hold it open. He grasped the driver beneath an elbow and pulled him from the vehicle as the man pushed himself outward.
The two swam to a nearby tree branch, where they rested before continuing to a boat-ramp dock. The driver was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained in the crash. Colson Leaning was uninjured.
Colson Leaning and his wife, both avid outdoor enthusiasts, shared that in the moments immediately following the crash, they were in shock. Colson Leaning initially froze when he saw the truck enter the river, but his wife helped spur him into action. He then entered the water and carried out the rescue.
“What struck me about Dustin’s admitted moment of hesitation, was its honesty. We recognize his decision to act, which Dustin made with encouragement from his wife, putting his own life at risk to save a stranger,” Zahren said. “It reminds us that courage isn’t the absence of fear, or even confusion. Just the opposite. It’s the willingness to act in the moment despite it, and without the luxury of full clarity, when someone else’s life is at stake.”