The Barnstable Police Department on Wednesday presented Barnstable citizen David Duncan with the Carnegie Medal for his action on August 24, 2017. Duncan disarmed a knife-wielding man who was approaching Barnstable Officer James Melia who was already engaged in a physical struggle with a combative individual on the sidewalk outside of the Duck Inn Pub on Main Street in Hyannis.
"Officer Melia was on the ground with his back towards him," said Duncan, "and if he stabbed him, the only place he was going to stab him was his face or his neck. My thought was I either get the knife out of his hands or he stabs me in the hand and I can survive from that."
The department also recognized several others for their roles during the same incident; Officers Nolan O’Melia, Evan Haussmann, and Maxwell Morrow and dispatcher Ross Lloyd.
Established on April 15, 1904, by Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission was created to recognize outstanding acts of selfless heroism performed in the United States and Canada. The Commission awards the Carnegie Medal to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.