MINNEAPOLIS
An Eden Prairie man, Minn., is the recipient of a national hero's award for rescuing an octogenarian from his car as it sank ever deeper into the quick-flowing Mississippi River at Lilydale Regional Park in St. Paul.
Jeffrey L. Breuer, 52, of Eden Prairie, is among 25 winners of medals for heroism announced Tuesday by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.
The drama began when Arnold Bellis was sitting in his car on a ramp at the Lilydale Boat Landing pointed toward the river on May 8, 2010. His car rolled forward down the ramp and toward the 50-degree water. He attempted to back up, but inadvertently placed the car in drive and accelerated into the river.
The four-door sedan began to submerge about 25 feet from shore as two fishermen in a boat attempted to remove Bellis through a side window.
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Breuer, boating nearby with his wife, came upon the scene, dived from his boat and swam to the nosediving car as Jody Breuer called 911.
Jeffrey Breuer entered the vehicle head-first through a side window, grabbed Bellis around one shoulder and pulled him out of the river's swift current.
Bellis, a longtime resident of Mendota Heights and West St. Paul and now 88, made a full recovery.
The Carnegie medals are for those who risk their lives while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. The medalists, or their heirs, receive financial grants. More than $33.7 million has been awarded to 9,477 honorees since the fund's inception in 1904. New recipients are announced four times a year.
Steel baron Andrew Carnegie was inspired to start the fund after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people.
Last year, St. Paul Fire Chief Tim Butler presented his department's highest honor, the Meritorious Service Award, to Breuer and the other two fishermen, Doug Nagle, of Minnetonka, and Ken Pelton, of Lakeville, for their heroism that day.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
