Carnegie Hero Fund President Eric Zahren presented the Carnegie Medal to Justin Scott Slater at a Toledo, Ohio, city council meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 9.
Zahren spoke to reporters about the significance of the people who receive the medal.
“To a man and woman, they are the finest among us,” Zahren said. “They represent the highest ideals that we can exhibit as human beings.”
Slater was awarded the medal in March 2025 after he saved a woman from drowning in Toledo on July 31, 2024.
At 2 a.m., a 34-year-old woman jumped off a drawbridge into the Maumee River and struggled to swim before calling for help. Slater, 38-years-old at the time, 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’s father, Randy Slater, said that his son was compelled to help despite the warning.
“Officer told him, yeah, ‘Don’t go in that water,’ he says, ‘Because people who go in that water usually don’t come back out.’ And he looked at me and he just said ‘Dad, I can’t let that person die,’ and he dove in,” Randy said.
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.
Toledo city council members reacted to Slater’s bravery and commended him for the actions he took on that night.
“What a courageous man, what bravery,” council member Carrie Hartman said. “I was thinking a lot about what I would do in that situation and I’m not sure I would have been brave enough to dive into the water.”
“You are walking in your purpose,” Councilwoman Vanice Williams said to Slater. “You were there for a purpose.”
Councilman John Hobbs III praised Slater’s bravery in jumping into the Maumee River and the danger he faced.
“I know those ships coming through there, how strong and powerful that current is, especially that stretch of the river,” Hobbs said.
Like many Carnegie heroes, Slater was humble in his response to being called a hero.
“A little overwhelmed. It hasn’t quite hit completely. I still don’t feel like I did anything that anyone else wouldn’t do,” he said. “Some say they wouldn’t do it, but if you see somebody swimming for their life, who wouldn’t jump in and try? I think any human would.”
Slater has not seen the woman since the incident, but hopes that knowing she is alive and well is more than enough.
“The only thing that would be important to me or that I would want to know is that that young lady has smiled since that day, and if she has, it was all worth it,” he said.
