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The award, announced by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, honors 29-year-old Scarsdale High School teacher John Catania, who risked his life on Nov. 22, 2022, to intervene as a man attacked a 28-year-old woman with a bladed weapon on a subway train in New York City.
Catania rushed at the 6-foot-4 assailant after witnessing him slash the woman’s face and strike her again. His brave intervention gave the woman time to escape to another train car, but Catania was left grappling with the attacker, who stabbed him repeatedly in the head and back. Despite his injuries, Catania managed to wrestle the man to the ground, forcing him to flee when the train reached its next stop.
Once the train stopped, the blood-covered Catania exited and soon had his head wrapped in a sweatshirt by a bystander, who escorted him to officers above the platform.
Catania suffered a total of 11 cuts to the head and upper back, which were stapled and sutured shut, according to the Commission. Meanwhile, the woman he saved suffered a cut to her cheek and her hand.
The woman and Catania both survived their injuries.
The attacker, who fled the scene, was later arrested and charged with attempted murder, hate crimes, and other offenses.
The Carnegie Medal, established in 1904 by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, is awarded to individuals in the U.S. and Canada who enter extreme danger to save or attempt to save others. Since its inception, the commission has honored 10,476 heroes and distributed more than $45 million in grants, scholarship aid, and support to recipients or their families.
Each Carnegie Medal recipient receives a financial grant alongside the honor.
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