Wallingford Resident Who Saved Man from Fiery Tanker Truck Crash Honored with Carnegie Medal

WALLINGFORD, CT — A Wallingford man has been awarded a Carnegie Medal for Extraordinary Civilian Heroism for rescuing a Meriden man from a tanker tractor-trailer crash on I-91 in 2015 in which the fuel caught fire near the wreckage.

Robert M. Shaw Jr., 54, was one of 21 people throughout the United States and Canada to be recognized by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission on Tuesday for their acts of civilian heroism.

The medal is given to those “who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others,” according to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission website. Four of the awardees announced on Tuesday died in the performance of their heroic acts.

Shaw saved Robert R. Angiletta Jr. from burning in the accident that occurred in Meriden on July 13, 2015.

Angiletta, 36, was driving a tanker truck on I-91 when the vehicle malfunctioned and crashed into a concrete support column of an overpass. The truck’s cargo tank, which contained 2,700 gallons of heating oil, detached from its frame and, compromised, released its contents to the underside of the overpass and to the roadway and median, according to the Carnegie website.

“The badly damaged remains of the vehicle came to rest beneath the overpass, with Angiletta, wet from the fuel, hanging by his safety belt from the driver’s side of the cab,” the website states. “The spilled fuel caught fire in the vicinity of the wreckage.

“Shaw, 54, truck driver of Wallingford, Connecticut, had been driving behind the tank truck and witnessed the accident. He stopped at the scene and heard Angiletta moaning. Shaw went underneath the overpass, which was dripping spilled fuel, approached the wreckage of the cab, and saw Angiletta.

“Standing in fuel with flames nearby, Shaw grasped Angiletta by the arms and pulled on him but then realized that he was caught by his safety belt. Shaw reached into the cab and removed the belt to free him.

“He then grasped Angiletta by the arms again and pulled him away from the cab and burning fuel.

“Angiletta was hospitalized for treatment of his injuries, but he was not burned.”

The heroes announced on Tuesday, the fourth and final announcement of 2016, brought this year’s total to 93 awards and to 9,914 overall since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904.

Commission Chair Mark Laskow stated that each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the 112 years since the fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $38.7 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.

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