FLORISSANT, Mo. – A Florissant woman was recently honored with a Carnegie Medal For Heroism after her quick-thinking actions saved two people from potentially life-threatening dog attacks.
The Carnegie Hero Fund recognized Robyn Handley and 16 others with a “Medal For Heroism” earlier this week. It’s the highest honor for civilian heroism in North America, honoring people who risk serious injury, and sometimes death, to save others.
Handley helped at least two women escape from vicious dog attacks on Dec. 22, 2020.
Witnesses say an elderly woman was walking around her neighborhood when four dogs attacked her. The dogs reportedly knocked her to the ground and bit into her body and limbs, and tore off pieces off her scalp.
Handley, an assembly worker several houses away at the time, heard to woman’s screams and ran barefoot to assist the woman. Handley shouted at the dogs and shielded the woman with her own body before they ran away.
Moments later, the dogs approached a second woman walking around the neighborhood. Handley heard her screams and responded, ultimately warding off the dogs away from the situation once again.
Both women suffered various injuries, and the first woman required surgeries, but investigators say their injuries could have been much worse. Handley was not hurt during her call to action. A driver later fatally struck one of the dogs, while the other three were later recovered and euthanized.
“Had I not reacted or had not heard her, they would have killed her,” Handley told FOX 2 in 2020 on the first victim. “They would have killed her. That’s the mentality that they had. They were in such a frenzy. They tore her shoe off – I mean. I’m not going to go into it. It was bad.”
Handley, along with the other recipients, will receive a financial grant in addition to the medal for heroism. The Carnegie Hero Fund has awarded more than 10,000 people for their civilian heroism since 1904.
NOTE: The video attached from above is from FOX 2’s coverage of the attacks and interview with Robyn Handley in December 2020.
