Lieutenant Jason Leary was on the radio, asking for fire rescue. In front of him, a highway in Spring Hope, North Carolina, was under water.
Spring Hope is a small town in Nash County, east of Raleigh. It was August 6, 2025.
A ravine beside the road had overflowed its bank. The floodwater had pushed a minivan to the ravine's edge.
The driver, Lottie R. Alston, was 24. She was standing on the frame of the front passenger window, holding on to the van.
Her stepfather was still in the driver's seat.
Leary was 52, an on-duty police lieutenant from Washington, North Carolina. He had made the call, and help was on the way.
Then another officer told him Alston had fallen into the water.
He saw her being carried downstream by the current. Fire rescue had not arrived.
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Leary handed his radio to the officer. He ran to the edge of the water. He jumped into the ravine in his uniform and his boots. He came within 5 feet of her. She was completely underwater.
He tried to find her and went under himself. He felt around for her below the surface, and the current carried him about 90 feet downstream.
Under the water, his body struck a fallen tree that lay across the ravine about 5 feet down. He could not climb over it. He rolled and let the water push him beneath it. He came up on the other side.
The current carried him another 90 feet. He caught hold of an oak tree on the bank.
The water kept hitting his head and getting into his mouth. He could not breathe well, and he lost his grip.
He was swept to a point about 300 feet from the van. There he grabbed trees along the bank and braced his legs against one to hold. He took out his flashlight and signaled for help.
A police sergeant and firefighters reached the opposite bank. They threw him a rescue rope, and he held on while they pulled him out. Leary had scratches and bruised ribs. He recovered.
Lottie Alston and her stepfather were found after the water went down. At some point both had left the van, and both had drowned. Leary did not bring anyone out of that ravine. He came within 5 feet of doing it.
The Carnegie Medal generally goes to civilians. Police officers and firefighters qualify only when an act goes clearly beyond the line of duty.
In 2026, the commission awarded one to Jason Leary. His job that day was to call for help, and he did. Then he gave away the radio.
If you had already called for the people trained to handle it and the water would not wait for them, would you have handed off your radio and gone in?