Carnegie Hero David Duncan, left, poses with Barnstable (Mass.) Police Officer James M. Melia after Melia presented him with the Carnegie Medal on March 13, 2019, at the Barnstable Police Department.
Duncan saved Melia from an Aug. 24, 2017, assault in Hyannis, Mass. Melia was struggling with a man on a sidewalk. When another man, armed with a knife approached the scuffle, Duncan, who was standing nearby, told the man to drop the knife, and then blocked the man’s path to Melia. Using both hands, he grasped the man’s hand and wrist, and they struggled. Duncan disarmed the man and threw the knife away from them. Other officers arrived shortly and arrested the assailants. Melia suffered a cut to his left hand and recovered; Duncan was not injured.
Photo courtesy of Barnstable Police Department.