San Bernardino (California) County Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus presented the Carnegie Medal to Michael Anthony Castaneda at a private ceremony held in May at the sheriff’s department.
Castaneda was awarded the medal in June 2025 after he saved a 2-year-old girl from being struck by a train in Redlands, California, on Sept. 20, 2024.
A woman’s SUV became immobilized on a railroad track between crossing gates that descended while she was driving with her two children in car seats. Off-duty sheriff’s deputy Castaneda, 38, 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 area 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 as 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.
Following the rescue, Castaneda told CBS LA that it was just a matter of timing for him to be there at that moment and to help.
“I think it was just the perfect timing for me to be somewhere,” Castenada said. “What I do for my job, what I’ve done in the past is just to help people,” he said.