Librarian Named Carnegie Hero for Rescuing Kayaker From Drowning

Photo credit: Kevin Michael O’Connor LinkedIn page/Dennic C. Hunke obituary-Overman-Jones Funeral Home & Cremation Services

A 40-year-old Ottawa man has been named a Carnegie Hero for rescuing a man whose kayak went over a low-head dam on the Fox River in Geneva in April 2014.

Kevin Michael O’Connor was among 24 recipients from the United States and Canada who were awarded Carnegie medals this past December. 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 website.

Another local man, Dennis C. Hunke II, of Plainfield, was honored posthumously for coming to the aid of an elderly woman in an out-of-control vehicle in October 2014. The 51-year-old carpenter was killed while helping the woman.

Kayak Rescue in Geneva

O’Connor was on the bank of the Fox River in Geneva on April 19, 2014, when he learned of a kayaker that had gone over a low-head dam about 250 feet downstream from where he was. He got into the 49-degree water and waded out to look for the man.

He went under low bridge and saw a life jacket being swept downstream. He swam to the area and found the life jacket was attached loosely to the kayaker who was submerged in the water.

O’Connor lifted the man’s head to the surface of the water, grasped him under the arms and swam him toward shore. Back at the bank, O’Connor helped pull the man from the water.

O’Connor, a former police officer, said the man had stopped breathing and he pounded his chest while he swam with him to shore, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The man was taken to the hospital for treatment and did recover.

A second man in the kayak, a 26-year-old from Bloomingoton, died. O’Connor told the Chicago Tribune he was “humbled and shocked” by the honor.

Hunke Aids Elderly Woman in Out-of-Control Vehicle

Dennis C. Hunke II, a 51-year-old Carpenter from Plainfield, suffered massive head injuries after coming to the aid of 84-year-old Joyce Baudouin of Aurora on Oct. 8, 2014. Police said Baudouin lost control of her 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan while backing out of a driveway at about 10:10 a.m. Wednesday in the first block of South Buell Avenue in Aurora.

According to a preliminary investigation, police said Baudouin first hit a 1998 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by a 20-year-old old Aurora man headed south on Buell. She then apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake while still in reverse , which sent her vehicle into two separate yards and then back onto the roadway, police said.

After witnessing the crash, Hunke ran toward the woman’s vehicle while yelling for her to apply the brake, police said. When he reached the minivan, he put his foot inside the open driver’s side door in an apparent attempt to help Baudouin engage the brake, according to police.Police said it appeared that Baudouin again hit the accelerator, causing Hunke to be hit by the inside of the door, which threw him backwards.

Hunke hit the pavement headfirst, police said, and was rushed to Presence Mercy Medical Center by Aurora Fire Department paramedics for initial treatment and then airlifted to Good Samaritan Hospital. He died two days later.

Neither Baudouin nor the driver of the vehicle she initially hit were injured, police said. Both were the sole occupants of their respective vehicles.

>>>> Plainfield Man Dies of Injuries After Being Struck While Helping Out-of-Control Driver: Police