Patrick K. Magee

Patrick K. Magee saved Colleen M. Kelly from burning, Smithtown, New York, August 11, 1989. Miss Kelly, 21, was the passenger of a car that, at night, struck a utility pole, then overturned. Live electrical lines from the pole sagged near and contacted the car, and Miss Kelly and the driver, both injured and hanging upside down from their seats, called for help. Magee, 19, college student, and a friend drove upon the scene, observed the overturned car, and stopped. Magee approached the car, grabbed a door handle, and received an electrical shock. When fire erupted on the exposed undercarriage of the car, Magee reached inside, despite the possibility of additional shocks, and pulled Miss Kelly through the open window of the passenger door. His friend then removed the driver. Miss Kelly required extensive hospitalization for injuries received in the accident, and she recovered. Magee was hospitalized two days for effects of electrical shock, and he too recovered.