A person who jumped right into a South Carolina lagoon and saved his 73-year-old neighbor from a 10-foot alligator in July 2020 was just lately awarded the distinguished Carnegie Medal. Kenneth Brian McCarter was one among solely 17 Individuals who acquired the consideration in 2021.
The medal is given all through the US and Canada to "those that enter excessive hazard whereas saving or trying to avoid wasting the lives of others."
Final summer season McCarter and the neighbor he saved, Carol S. DeLillio, recounted the story to The Island Packet across the one-year anniversary of the incident and celebrated DeLillio's restoration. DeLillo has undergone a variety of surgical procedures to repair her leg for the reason that assault however is now in a position to stroll once more.
They each recalled the early July night of their Callawassie neighborhood when DeLillo was sprucing up her yard - one thing she did virtually each day for 20 years - after promoting her residence earlier within the day and was charged by the alligator that dragged her underwater.
McCarter and his 4 children had been driving by on a sundown golf cart trip after they heard splashing within the lagoon and McCarter dove in to avoid wasting her not realizing an alligator was concerned. The 2 fought off the alligator and McCarter's elder son, Will, helped pull DeLillo from the water and held her hand till assist arrived.
The 2 have each moved since, McCarter to Georgia and DeLillo to Bluffton, however have stayed in contact and reunited with an embrace in the course of the Carnegie Medal ceremony.
McCarter mentioned the consideration was "surprising."
"I am actually grateful for the neighborhood and the nomination," he mentioned. "I am form of speechless."
DeLillo mentioned she's grateful for McCarter and that he received the award.
"It makes you notice how great and particular he's," DeLillo mentioned.
McCarter was nominated by Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, who introduced him with the medal in a latest ceremony attended by buddies, household, and lots of Callawassie neighbors.
"We consider first responders and our army as heroes however on this explicit case right here on Callawassie we had been in a position to determine a civilian who was a hero," Tanner mentioned.
Alligator assaults are uncommon however they do occur in South Carolina.
Final yr, a lady who was attacked by an alligator on Hilton Head Island was rescued by a neighbor who hit the animal with a shovel.
In 2020, an alligator attacked and killed a lady on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Previous to that, a 45-year-old lady strolling her canine was fatally attacked on Hilton Head Island in August 2018 and a 90-year-old lady walked out of a Charleston nursing residence in 2016 and was killed by a gator.