High school teacher Richard Irvin Moore of Laguna Niguel, Calif., rescued Jana Lutteropp, 20, from a shark attack at Wailea, Hawaii, on August 14, 2013. Lutteropp was snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean at a point about 150 feet from shore when a shark, thought by authorities to be a tiger shark about 12 feet long, attacked her, severing her right arm near the shoulder. From the beach, Moore, 57, heard her scream and saw that she was in bloodied water. He ran into the water and then swam out to her. Securing a hold of her, Moore backstroked toward shore and then in wadable water handed her over to another man, who returned her to the beach. Moore and others then carried Lutteropp to an access road, from which she was taken to the hospital. She died there a week later of effects of her injury.
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Officer John Smith,
2019 Awardee