Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota presented the Carnegie Medal to Hao Nguyen at a presentation at her office in Minneapolis.
Hao was awarded the medal in September 2024 after he prevented a man from jumping off a parking garage in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Feb. 13, 2023.
A 31-year-old man stood on a snowbank piled next to a safety wall on the roof of the parking garage and peered over the side to the street 70 feet below. A woman in a nearby office building saw him and alerted state prosecutor Hao Nguyen in an office down the hall. Nguyen ran across the street to the parking garage and took the elevator to the roof. Seeing the man next to the wall, he talked to the man.
“How are you doing? What are you doing?” he asked, speaking in both Vietnamese and English.
He attempted to establish a rapport with the man and asked the man to leave the roof with him. The man grew increasingly agitated and ran to jump when Nguyen intercepted the man, and they grappled. The man demanded Nguyen let go of him, but Nguyen refused. As they struggled, the man, who was bigger than Nguyen, pushed Nguyen against the wall. Nguyen pushed off the wall for leverage and forced the man back. He bear-hugged the man from behind, wrapped his legs around his waist, and took him to the ground. The man had an arm free and elbowed Nguyen repeatedly, but Nguyen was able to turn his head enough to make the strikes glancing blows and continue to hold the man down. Nguyen eventually pinned him with a hold he learned from his experience with jiu jitsu until a sheriff’s deputy arrived. Nguyen suffered slight abrasions to his face from the elbows, but was otherwise uninjured.
Although it was a private ceremony, Hao was interviewed later by the Star Tribune for a piece about Carnegie Heroes from Minnesota.
“I think what’s really important to me is to talk about how none of us is more precious than the other. It made me really reflect on the value of life and how we’re all really important regardless of our status or what we perceive to be our value,” Hao said.
A comment left under the Facebook post that shared the article expressed how good of a man Hao is and what kind of character he has.
“I’ve known Hao professionally for over a decade, and he is a solid and honorable man with a kind heart.”
