PITTSBURGH — A deceased Richmond County man is one of 15 Americans and three Canadians to be honored with an award for risking his life to save another.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced Monday that the late David Covington was one of its recipients.
Covington is hailed as a hero for saving the life of then-6-year-old Haiden Prevatte when she was attacked by two pit bulls after getting off the bus back in January.
Covington, who was 72, told the investigating deputy that he was following the bus and saw two dogs attack the girl, according to the report. He said that he “grabbed a stick from the ditch and beat the dogs” away from the victim.
When the Animal Enforcement deputy arrived, he said the girl was with medics on the ambulance with numerous lacerations on her torso and limbs.
She was initially taken to FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital-Richmond and later airlifted to the UNC Hospital Trauma Center in Chapel Hill.
The dogs, a brown male pit bull named Buster and a brown female pit named Honey, were taken to the animal shelter for a 10-day rabies quarantine.
The owner, Mary Wilson, surrendered the dogs to the county and they were euthanized at the end of the quarantine.
Covington died of natural causes in May.
According to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission:
The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this third announcement of 2019 recipients, a total of 10,117 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904.
Commission Chair Mark Laskow said each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the more than 115 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $41 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
