It was July 6, 2025, in Portage, Indiana. The water there was about 6.5 feet deep. It was a Sunday, the end of the Fourth of July weekend.
A 38-year-old man’s dog had slipped off his boat into the water and was in obvious distress. He jumped in to help it. Then he felt a shock.
A faulty connection between his boat and the marina’s power source had put electricity into the water around him. He shouted to the people on the dock that he was being electrocuted.
One of them was Matthew Lubieniecki. He was 52, an assistant manager from Ogden Dunes, Indiana. Ogden Dunes is a small town on the Lake Michigan shore, a few miles from Portage.
Electricity in fresh water around docks can paralyze a swimmer’s muscles. A person who cannot move his arms and legs drowns. In most cases there is no visible sign that the water is charged.
The current can also kill anyone who goes into the water after him. The standard advice is never to jump in.
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Lubieniecki did not jump in. He went to the edge of the dock.
He bent over and braced one hand on the dock surface. He reached down to the man with his other arm. The man’s forearms were raised just above the water. Lubieniecki took hold of his right hand.
He pulled him up out of the water and onto the dock. The whole rescue happened from the dock.
His wife was on the dock with him. The dog was still in the water, and together they lifted it out and set it down beside its owner. The dog bit his left hand as he pulled it out. He also hurt his left arm.
The man went by ambulance to a hospital. Doctors there confirmed he had been electrocuted. He was treated and released. His dog survived too. In the end, both the man and his dog came out of that water.
In 2026, Lubieniecki was awarded the Carnegie Medal. It is given to civilians in the United States and Canada who enter extreme danger to save or try to save the lives of others.
He was one of 18 people named in the commission’s first announcement of that year.
The record shows a man who reached instead of jumping. He kept one hand on the dock and gave the other one away.
If a man three feet from you was shouting that the water was killing him, would you have known to stay on the dock and reach?
