Recognizing a ‘Hero’

Matthew Shackles ’05 says he was only reacting the way he was supposed to when he helped pull a 20-year-old woman out of a burning car.

As for being called a hero, he doesn’t want to get too hung up on that.

“It’s obviously a great honor,” Shackle says. “But I was only doing what needed to be done at the time.”

What he did was this: Driving home from work on August 6, 2006, he saw a Corvette crash into two other cars on a Long Island highway. As the sports car started on fire, Shackles and Mark Fisher, an off-duty police officer from Miller Place, New York, tried to pull a semiconscious passenger out. When they couldn’t get her out through the driver’s side, they battled the flames to pull her out on the passenger’s side.

The passenger, Jacqueline Rathjen, was hospitalized but has recovered from the accident. Shackles had minor burns on his arm.

In recognition of his heroism, Shackles was one of 19 people selected this July to receive the Carnegie Medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The commission recognizes about 100 people a year for their bravery.

A lifeguard in high school, Shackles says he has been trained to react well to life-threatening situations, although he has been through few as intense as rescuing Rathjen.

Shackles, who drew on classes in brain and cognitive studies, psychology, philosophy, engineering, and other fields to design his own major at Rochester, is embarking on a career as a personal trainer. He hopes to work with athletes full time.

—Scott Hauser