Kevin James Schell has been recognized by The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for the courage he showed trying to save a struggling swimmer in the Muskoka River in 2020.
Jewels Phraner, director of outreach and communications for the commission, says Schell has posthumously been awarded the Carnegie Medal. She adds the honour is considered the highest civilian honour for heroism in North America.
Phraner explains how on Aug. 24, 2020, three men in their 20s were on the pier at the Bracebridge Wharf when one of them fell into the water.
“The man was a poor swimmer as he struggled to stay afloat in 30 feet of water, with dangerous, unpredictable currents caused by a waterfall and a man-made dam upriver from the pier,” explains Phraner. “Several onlookers witnessed the man struggling, including corrections officer Kevin James Schell, 51, of Bracebridge, who was on a nearby bench with his adult daughter.”
Despite attempts to calm the distressed swimmer, Phraner says they continued to panic.
“During that time, Schell and his daughter searched for the life preserver from a nearby life preserver rack, but it could not be found,” continues Phraner. “Schell told his daughter to call 911 before he ran 60 feet to the end of the pier and entered the water. He swam about 10 feet to the man and was reportedly within an arm’s length of him.”
Schell was joined by two other bystanders, but Phraner says, at some point, he became submerged. The bystanders got the distressed swimmer to shore safely. He had inhaled water but, along with the two other men he was with, recovered.
However, Phraner says Schell had drowned.
“Divers searched for more than six hours before they located Schell’s body some 30 feet south of where he was last seen,” she says.
Schell was also honoured by the OPP in May 2022 for his courage in saving the struggling swimmer. He was represented at the ceremony by his daughter Savine.
In Schell’s obituary, his family writes, “when he dove into the water on Aug. 24, 2020, to help someone in distress he never stopped to think. He went into the water as he lived. He was all in.”