Middletown Man Named Carnegie Hero For Fiery Crash Rescue

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Middletown man has been named a Carnegie Hero for helping to rescue another man from a burning car on Route 9 in Middletown in 2017. James R. Carroll, 65, of Middletown, and Stephen A. Eberle, 31, of Ivoryton, were among the 18 people across the U.S. and Canada honored as a hero for “risking their lives while trying to save others from perilous, life-threatening situations,” the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced on Monday.

Carroll and Eberle worked together to help save Shelton T. Smith from a fiery crash that occurred shortly after 9 p.m. on Route 9 South near Exit 12 in Middletown on July 16, 2017. Eberle, a power station electrician, and Carroll, a teacher’s aide, were passing motorists at the time of the crash. They both pulled over and responded to the car, which caught fire, where they found Smith, 38, unconscious inside.

“Using a tire iron, Eberle broke out the rear, driver’s-side window, opened the rear door, and entered the backseat, where he attempted to release Smith’s seat belt,” the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission wrote in a news release. “Unsuccessful, he moved to the driver’s door and broke that window. Carroll then forced the door open, and held it open as Eberle twice attempted to enter the car there and release Smith’s seat belt. Carroll then attempted to do the same, but each attempt was thwarted by heat and fire, about 2.5 feet away from them. Carroll then used a pocketknife to cut the seat belt, and together they grasped Smith and tugging hard, removed him from the vehicle and dragged him away. The car was shortly engulfed in flames. Smith was treated for minor crash injuries, but was not burned.”

The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those “who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others,” according to the commission. With this second announcement of 2019 recipients, a total of 10,099 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904. Commission Chair Mark Laskow said each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the more than 115 years since the fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $40.9 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance, according to the commission.

Fellow Connecticut residents, Marvin G. Dixon and Jose L. Casanova, were also honored by the commission Monday for helping to rescue a police officer from an assault on May 17, 2018, in Hartford.

“Responding to a complaint, a police officer, 34, was inside a female resident’s apartment when the resident attempted to leave, prompting a violent struggle,” according to a Carnegie news release. “As they wrestled in the kitchen, the woman obtained a kitchen knife, which she used to repeatedly stab the officer in the neck. In the building’s lobby, Dixon, 38, the building’s senior maintenance supervisor of Cromwell, Conn., and Casanova, 32, maintenance technician of New Britain, Conn., were alerted that the officer needed help and responded. In the hallway, they saw the assailant, still holding the knife and choking the officer. The men ran to them; Dixon grasped the assailant from behind and Casanova seized the knife from her hand. Dixon restrained the assailant while a building manager tended to the officer’s wounds until backup officers arrived. The officer survived and was hospitalized for treatment of serious wounds.”