HOLLAND, Michigan — Michigan State Police Sgt. David Cardenas of Rockford has been awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism after the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission said he helped pull a trapped driver from a smoke-filled burning vehicle.

The Carnegie Hero Fund’s case summary says the rescue happened in Holland on June 27, 2025, after a 21-year-old man suffered a medical emergency while driving. His car left the interstate, crashed head-on into a tree on a grassy embankment and began to smoke while he remained unresponsive and pinned by the steering wheel.

An off-duty sergeant moved toward the fire

According to the Carnegie account, Cardenas was off duty when he stopped at the scene. Witnesses saw flames break out at the front of the car while the driver remained trapped inside.

The commission said Cardenas first tried unsuccessfully to break the driver’s window with a lawn chair. He then used a passerby’s empty fire extinguisher to smash multiple windows, cut the shoulder strap of the man’s seat belt and entered the smoke-filled car through a rear passenger-side door.

By that point, the Carnegie summary said, flames had reached the cabin and were burning the driver’s legs. Cardenas reclined the driver’s seat and pulled at the man’s arms, but had difficulty freeing him and had to exit the vehicle twice for fresh air because of smoke.

Pulled from the car before flames spread

Cardenas re-entered and tugged the driver toward the backseat area, according to the Carnegie Hero Fund. Another man then helped grasp one of the driver’s arms, and together they pulled him from the car and dragged him across the grass to safety.

The commission said the flames spread to the nearby tree and grass and ultimately destroyed the vehicle. Cardenas then helped first responders tend to the injured driver before he was taken to a hospital.

The Carnegie account said the driver was hospitalized for six weeks and completed two weeks of rehabilitation. Cardenas reported a minor burn to his left forearm and multiple cuts on his legs, feet and hands, but declined hospital treatment.

North America’s highest civilian honor for heroism

Grand Haven Tribune reported that Cardenas, 49, received the Carnegie Medal for Heroism after his actions saved a man enduring a medical emergency. The Carnegie Hero Fund describes the medal as North America’s highest civilian honor for heroism, awarded to people in the United States and Canada who risk themselves to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save others.

For Support Law Enforcement readers, this is the kind of off-duty public-safety story that is easy to miss: no staged moment, no fake hero art, just a sergeant who stopped, improvised with what was available and went back into smoke until another person was out.

Sources reviewed

Editorial note: ThinBlueNews used the Carnegie Hero Fund’s public case summary and local reporting, limited medical details to what was publicly documented, did not name the rescued driver and used a real source photo rather than AI-generated burning-car or rescue imagery.