Carnegie commission announces 19 winners of hero award

PITTSBURGH — An off-duty police officer who rescued a 5-year-old girl from a rabid coyote at a New York playground is one of 19 people being honored with Carnegie Medals for heroism.

The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced the award winners on Monday.

Arcangelo Liberatore was at a playground in Thornwood, N.Y., in April 2018 when he heard screams and saw the animal attacking Natalia Petrellese.

Liberatore rushed over after the girl’s mother unsuccessfully tried to fight off the animal. He got the animal to release its grip on Natalia and pinned it to the ground, while the little girl’s mother rushed her a safe distance away. Liberatore struggled to restrain the animal as it attempted to bite him until police officers arrived several minutes later and fatally shot the animal. Natalia had stitches in her arm, and Liberatore suffered scratches. Both were treated for rabies and recovered.

The Hero Fund commission was founded and endowed by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It has awarded over $40 million to more than 10,000 heroes or their families since 1904.

Some of the other winners:

■ Steve Wahler, 47, of Owensboro, Ky., and Bradley Eugene Murphy, 21, of Elberta, Ala., who both drowned after entering the water to attempt to save a 12-year-old boy caught in a Gulf of Mexico rip current in Gulf Shores, Ala., in October 2017.

■ Malik Andre Williams, 25, of Galesburg, Ill., who drowned trying to rescue his 6-year-old son, and Van U. Thang, of East Moline, Ill., who managed to save the boy who fell into the Mississippi River near Moline in June 2017.

■ Kristian Harrison, 47, of Dayton, Ky., rescued a neighbor from his burning home in November 2017.

■ Kali Allen, 38, of Broken Arrow, Okla., attempted to rescue a man who had fallen through ice in a deep pond in Catoosa in January 2018, before Allen had to be rescued by responding firefighters.

■ Peter Di Pinto Sr., 64, of Brookhaven, N.Y., saved a woman after her van crashed and came to rest on railroad tracks seconds before a freight train then struck her vehicle in October 2017.

■ David Connelly, 30, of Providence Forge, Va., saved a couple from drowning after their car crashed into the Little River in Doswell, Va., in December 2016.

■ Omar Lee, 40, of Louisville, Ky., and James Wyatt, 42, of Clarksville, Ind., rescued a man whose semi-truck crashed and burned on a Louisville interstate in November 2017.

■ Willowick, Ohio, police officers Christopher Olup, 34, and Robert Prochazka, 49, saved a man with limited mobility after his home caught fire in Willowick in April 2016.