Rise Academy director Richard Baumgartner knew the man holding one of his teachers in Baumgartner’s locked office was armed with a knife. And he knew the police were on the way.
But he feared something could happen to the woman before police arrived, so he broke down the door. The woman escaped, but Baumgartner suffered a minor stab wound in the back.
He was honored recently by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for his 2011 rescue of the teacher.