It began like any other morning. 

Amanda Williams dropped off her 5-year-old son and stopped at Starbucks for something to drink. It was August 11, 2025, and there was nothing about the morning that suggested it would become one of the most consequential days of her life.

Then she saw two men fighting in the middle of the street.

One man was on top of the other. At first, Williams thought she was witnessing a fight. But as she got closer, she realized the situation was far more serious. The man on the ground was bloodied. The man standing over him was holding two kitchen knives and appeared intent on stabbing him.

Williams, a 2018 Cal Poly Maritime Academy graduate, pulled her car closer.

“I pulled up, and one man was on top of the other with a greater advantage,” Williams told the Vallejo Times-Herald in 2025. “I pulled up with my car and said that I was going to call the cops. I saw at that moment that, in fact, it’s not a fight, that the guy on the ground being held down was bloodied. The guy on top of him had two knives. I told him (the assailant) again, “Get off him. I’m going to call the cops.” I started calling 9-1-1, and they were on the line the whole time.”

His response was aggressive: Leave.

That was followed by a plea from the man on the ground.

“He’s trying to kill me.”

Williams faced a choice.

“I don’t think I was scared,” she later recalled. “I was more afraid to see this guy die in front of my eyes … I would have nightmares about not doing anything. It was either sit there and watch someone get murdered or get out of my car and see what I could do.”

She chose to get out of her car.

As the attacker attempted to stab the victim in the head, Williams intervened. She grabbed the attacker’s arm and twisted it underneath his body, forcing him to drop both knives.

For a brief moment, the situation was under control. Then the attacker broke free, jumped into Williams’ car and sped away.

He didn’t get far.

Nearby witnesses had also called police, and the attacker was apprehended moments later.

Williams had stepped into extreme danger to help save another person’s life.

Nearly a year later, that act of courage brought another unexpected moment: a phone call from Torsten Ove of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.

Williams had been selected as one of 16 recipients in the organization’s latest class of Carnegie Medal honorees. Established by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1904, the Carnegie Medal recognizes individuals who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others and is considered the highest civilian award for heroism in the United States and Canada. More than 10,500 people have received the medal since its creation.

“I had heard of the award before, but I still had to check it out and see if this was real because I didn’t want to just give out my information to just anyone,” Williams told the Times-Herald during a recent follow-up interview.

The Carnegie Medal is the latest honor for the Vallejo High School graduate, who earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2018 from Cal Poly Maritime Academy.

Following the incident, the City of Vallejo organized a ceremony and recognized her courage by honoring Williams and her actions.

Even then, the attention was unexpected.

“I was the only one that people got up and applauded for,” Williams said. “I really didn’t expect that.”

Among the honors she received from City of Vallejo representatives was a medal — one she ultimately gave to her mother as a Mother’s Day present.

For Williams, however, the recognition began with something much simpler.

A morning coffee stop.

A dangerous situation.

And a decision to help.

Williams stopped, stepped out of her car and placed herself in harm’s way for someone she didn't know.

Nearly a year later, the Carnegie Medal made official what that moment had already revealed: Williams had demonstrated extraordinary courage when it mattered most.