Martin Leonard Skutnik III (born 1953 in Mississippi, known as Lenny)[1][2] is a retired employee of the United States Congressional Budget Office[3] who, on January 13, 1982, saved the life of Priscilla Tirado following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the frozen Potomac River, Washington, D.C. As passengers were being rescued, Tirado was too weak to take hold of the line dropped from a helicopter.
Skutnik—one of hundreds of bystanders—dove into the icy water and brought her to the river bank.
Since then, others invited to sit in the Presidential gallery and honored in the president's speech have often been called Lenny Skutniks.
[5][6] Skutnik received the United States Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal, the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal, and various other tributes.
[1][2] In 2010 he retired from his position as a printing and distribution assistant for the Congressional Budget Office.