A 35-year-old Lincoln man has been awarded the Carnegie Medal for his life-saving actions last year. Jordan Kurtzer, a sheet metal worker, jumped into action when a 49-year-old man lost consciousness behind the wheel of his pickup truck and ended up in a residential pond on Sept. 3, 2022.
The truck sank in seven feet of water as the man remained in the driver’s seat. Kurtzer saw the accident and ran down the bank and into the water. According to the Carnegie Hero Commission Kurtzer jumped into the bed of the truck and used a tire iron that another motorist gave him to break the truck’s rear windshield.
He was able to reach in and unlock a rear door. He was able to unlatched the driver’s seat belt. Finding two child-sized life jackets, Kurtzer and the other motorist placed them around the man’s arm and floated him out of the truck.
LPD Sergeant Tu Tran also responded to the scene and was able to to help both men get the man to the bank. The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
The medal has been awarded to 10,387 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904.