A Monroe County employee is being honored with by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for his rescuing of an eight-year-old girl who was being attacked by dogs.
Donald Lowrie is a mechanic and generator technician for Monroe County. In 2018, he was named Employee of the Year after he saved the young girl in her home.
On May 6, 2018, Lowrie had arrived at the house and been attacked by the dogs himself; they chased him and caused him to fall down a flight of stairs before one of the proceeded to bite him in several places.
Both Lowrie and the girl had to be taken to the hospital for severe injuries that required surgery. They have since recovered.
On Thursday, Monroe county officials announced that Lowrie was now being awarded a Carnegie Medal for Heroic Actions.
“If it wasn’t for Mr. Lowrie’s actions, things may have been much worse,” Assistant County Administrator Kevin Wilson said in a press release. “Mr. Lowrie did not hesitate to put himself in danger, possibly saving the life of a small child.”
Lowrie resides in Islamorada and is the only recipient from Florida out of the 16 other recipients being honored for entering a dangerous or life-threatening situation to rescue others.
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According to the commission's website, Lowrie joins three other Florida Keys Carnegie Medal heroes: Gertrude Bush, 16, who in 1915 saved someone from drowning in Key West, C. Raymond Shook, 52, who in 1970 died trying to save a fisherman who fell off an Islamorada bridge, and Patrick McGeogh, Jr, 26, of Key West, who in 2006 was honored for saving someone stuck in a submerged car in Texas.
