Recognizing a ‘Hero’
Matthew Shackles
’05 says he was only reacting the way he was supposed to when
he helped pull a 20-year-old woman out of a burning car.
As for being called a hero, he doesn’t want to
get too hung up on that.
“It’s obviously a great honor,”
Shackle says. “But I was only doing what needed to be done at
the time.”
What he did was this: Driving home from work on August
6, 2006, he saw a Corvette crash into two other cars on a Long
Island highway. As the sports car started on fire, Shackles and
Mark Fisher, an off-duty police officer from Miller Place, New
York, tried to pull a semiconscious passenger out. When they
couldn’t get her out through the driver’s side, they
battled the flames to pull her out on the passenger’s
side.
The passenger, Jacqueline Rathjen, was hospitalized but
has recovered from the accident. Shackles had minor burns on
his arm.
In recognition of his heroism, Shackles was one of 19
people selected this July to receive the Carnegie Medal from the
Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The commission recognizes about 100
people a year for their bravery.
A lifeguard in high school, Shackles says he has been
trained to react well to life-threatening situations, although he
has been through few as intense as rescuing Rathjen.
Shackles, who drew on classes in brain and cognitive
studies, psychology, philosophy, engineering, and other fields to
design his own major at Rochester, is embarking on a career as a
personal trainer. He hopes to work with athletes
full time.
—Scott Hauser
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