Marine Medal of Honor Recipient Charged With Hit and Run

Marine Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, who received the nation’s top award at the White House last year for combat heroism in Afghanistan, was charged with a hit-and-run on Thursday after turning himself into police in Columbia, South Carolina.

Carpenter, 26, also was charged with making an improper left turn, according to a police department news release. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The charges are from a Dec. 8 incident in which Carpenter made a left turn and hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk shortly before 8.30 p.m. The man, Michael Haddad, was on his way to a local fitness center. He suffered minor injuries.

According to the police report, Carpenter, upon hitting Haddad, stopped his vehicle and turned on his hazard lights, but did not get out. After Haddad got up, Carpenter left the scene. Haddad then went into the fitness center. Emergency medical services responded after receiving calls from several citizens, but Haddad refused transportation to the hospital.

There is no indication that either man was under the influence of alcohol or other illicit substances, and Carpenter has fully cooperated with law-enforcement officials, police said. The incident remains under investigation by the Columbia Police Department’s traffic division.

Carpenter received the nation’s highest military award for jumping on a Taliban grenade while he was deployed as an infantry rifleman in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in 2010. The blast shattered his jaw, broke dozens of other bones in his body and peppered him with shrapnel. He underwent more than 40 surgeries in the following years, but recovered to the point of being able to the run marathons and go skydiving.