Man Earns Carnegie Medal After Preventing a Suicide at Oakland Coliseum

Three men who risked their lives to save people in peril in the Bay Area last year, including a man who prevented a suicide at O.co Coliseum, have received the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission’s Carnegie Medal.

Among the 21 people in the U.S. and Canada named as recipients of the medal on Tuesday was 61-year-old Donnie Navidad of Stockton, who caught a young woman who jumped from the third deck of the O.co Coliseum in Oakland after a Raiders game nearly a year ago.

After the Raiders game ended around 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 24, the 20-year-old San Jose woman went into an area of the Coliseum’s third deck that is closed to the public and appeared to prepare to jump. The woman drew the attention of onlookers on the second concourse level some 67 feet below, including Navidad.

Seeing the woman jump, the former U.S. Marine and Vietnam War veteran sprang into action, moving to a point directly beneath her, bending his knees and stretching out his arms to catch her. He grasped the 100-pound woman as she fell and was knocked to the pavement.

She was taken to a hospital in critical condition but survived. Navidad was also hospitalized with contusions to his arm and shoulder but has since fully recovered, according to a statement on the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission website. Alameda County sheriff’s officials said the woman likely would have died if Navidad had not stepped in. He was also honored earlier this year by the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum Authority.

Authority chairman and Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said in a statement that Navidad “was already a brave hero who served our country courageously for many years,” and his quick thinking on Nov. 24 ensured that “a shocking incident did not become a tragedy.”

Two North Bay residents were also honored for their bravery with a Carnegie Medal. Perry Hookey of Vacaville, a 47-year-old paramedic, quickly responded to the scene after hearing a crash involving a big-rig and a pickup truck on state Highway 37 in Vallejo around 6:40 a.m. on Jan. 10, 2013. Lance O’Pry, 42, a field mechanic, witnessed the collision and also rushed to the scene, according to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.

The two men ran to the big-rig as it burned and worked to free the driver, 43-year-old William Ballard of Roseville, and pull him from the vehicle’s cab just before the tractor burst into flames. Ballard was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries. Hookey was treated in a hospital for first and second-degree burns to his arm.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission researches heroic acts that take place throughout the U.S. and Canada and awards medals and cash grants to recipients for their heroism several times each year.

—By Bay City News