Five Massachusetts police officers, including one posthumously, civilian, receive country’s highest honor for civilian heroism

Five Massachusetts police officers, including one posthumously, and a civilian, received the Carnegie Medal Friday for their bravery.

The Carnegie Medal is North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism, and it was bestowed on five for their actions on the fateful day of June 4, 2021.

In the early afternoon, Worcester Police Officers responded to the Green Hill Pond for an undetermined number of swimmers in distress. As events on scene unfolded, first responders determined there were three teenagers in distress in the water.

Worcester officer Scott Morin, 26, was the first to arrive at the scene and entered the deep, 52-degree water of the pond fully clothed. He swam about 35 feet and grasped a 15-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl each by the hand and towed them to wadable water near the bank. Morin was nearly exhausted after the rescue and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. He was later released and recovered.

Officer Enmanuel Familia, 38, also with Worcester police, also responded to the pond, where others alerted him that a 14-year-old boy remained in the pond and had submerged. Fully clothed, Familia entered the pond and swam about 60 feet toward the teen’s last known location, but he shortly struggled in the water and submerged.

By then, state trooper Amy M. Waterman, 47, and Worcester officers Angela C. Consiglio, 51, and Steven Barnett, 56, had arrived and entered the pond to search for the teen, then swam to where Familia was last seen. Though all three officers dived multiple times to locate Familia, they could not find him.

Fire officials arrived and ordered all of the officers out of the water. Waterman and Consiglio, nearly exhausted, exited the water, and were taken by ambulance to the hospital. They were later released and recovered. Barnett remained in the water where Familia was last seen to mark the position for fire department divers. He too was taken to the hospital by ambulance where he was treated and released. Familia and the 14-year-old boy were recovered by divers later that day; they had drowned.

Additionally, a civilian, Allen Corson of Connecticut, received the Carnegie medal after attempting to save a woman during a stabbing at a Worcester restaurant in 2019. Corson saw the woman being stabbed by a man holding two knives. He rushed toward the man and held him down with the help of two other men until police arrived. The woman died as a result of her injuries. Corson was also stabbed in the attack and required multiple stitches.

Each of the recipients or their survivors received a financial grant. Throughout the 118 years since the Carnegie Hero Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, more than $44 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.