Ogden River rescue leads to Tooele man receiving a prestigious award
Dec 15, 2025, 1:59 PM | Updated: 2:38 pm
Deputy Sheriff James Peasnall (Carnegie Hero Fund Commission)
(Carnegie Hero Fund Commission)
TOOELE — A Tooele man has been awarded a prestigious north American award for an act of heroism after saving a man and his son from drowning in the Ogden River last year.
Tooele County Deputy Sheriff James Peasnall is one of 17 civilians recently selected across the U.S. and Canada for the Carnegie Medal for Heroism Award.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission recognizes people who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
Peasnall’s recognition comes from his actions in May 2024. While off-duty at a playground with his family, the deputy sheriff heard screams coming from the Ogden River. He sprinted along the riverbank and saw a father in his mid-40’s and his 10-year-old son struggle in the water.
Peasnall quickly jumped in the water, grabbing the two. He wrapped his arm around the father, who held the son and while Peasnall swam with his free arm to a tree sticking out of the water, near the shore.
Peasnall pushed the father onto the tree, but the father had let go of the son, who was drifting down the river. The off-duty deputy sheriff swam after him and pulled the limp boy to shore about 150 feet downstream from the father.
“I thought I was pulling out a dead body,” Peasnall said.
He handed the boy to a bystander on the riverbank, and the boy spit up water and started breathing again.
But Peasnall started drifting under the water again.
“I was so tired,” Peasnall said. “I swallowed so much water. I was about to give up and I basically told God, ‘Here I come.'”
But then he heard more screams. He climbed out of the river and ran back to the father clinging to the tree. A bystander was trying to help the man out of the water, but she got swept in and could barely hold onto the log and the man. Peasnall then grabbed the bystander and carried the father on his back onto the riverbank.
The boy and father had no injuries, however Peasnall got bruises and vomited water for about three days and declined medical attention.
Overall, he’s grateful for the award, but feels like it should go to someone else.
“I give all praise to God,” Peasnall said. “He should be getting this award, not me. He basically lifted me out of the water. I know that everybody’s like, ‘Oh, you’re a hero,’ but I’ve just been kind of overwhelmed. It’s kind of amazing. I never expected anything like this.”
“It’s an example of unrelenting heroism,” said Carnegie Hero Fund Commission President Eric Zahren. “The way he had the opportunity at several points to discontinue the rescue attempt, to avoid the rescue attempt, but he just kept going back. He was called by a louder voice than his own self-preservation.”
In addition to the Carnegie Medal, Peasnall will receive a $7,500 grant from the commission.
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