Waynesville Police Department Det. Paige Shell received an award for saving a man’s life at this year’s Salute to Western North Carolina Heroes, held by the Red Cross on June 7 at Highland Brewing Company in Asheville.

Shell received her award for saving a man’s life in May of last year. In an interview with The Smoky Mountain News, she recalled that day.

“They put out a call of a possible drowning at Lake Junaluska,” Shell said.

Shell was on duty as a detective. Although she had her badge and gun, she was in plain clothes — khaki pants, as she recalls. Upon arrival, Shell saw a man clinging to an overturned kayak in the middle of the water.

“When I got there, there was a fire department member trying to throw a rope to the man,” she said. “At the time, he seemed to be hanging on pretty good.”

Shell joined the effort to get the rope out to the kayak and tried to instruct the man to kick his feet and try to paddle back to the shore. But he was already too fatigued.

“He said he couldn’t hang on much longer,” Shell said.

She put on a life jacket, grabbed the rope and swam out to the man. She had him grab the rope and hold tight to the kayak while she pulled them back to the shore. Had she not been there, there’s no telling how much longer he would have held on, how much longer he would have lived.

Shell’s no stranger to such situations where lives are at stake and quick decisions must be made. As a former member of WPD’s Special Response Team, she’s been on the scene of several dangerous standoffs, and she now serves on the county’s search and rescue team, which is particularly busy this time of year rescuing lost or injured hikers.

A 16-year veteran of WPD, Shell said that while she was well aware of the stakes that day out at Lake Junaluska, the act of rescuing the man itself was nothing more than training kicking in and knowing how to handle the situation.

“I guess it’s just one of those things,” she said. “Sometimes you have to act now.”

She said that while receiving recognition is always nice, it’s never really about that.

“It does feel good, but at the same time, I didn’t do it for anything else other than just trying to save that man out there in Lake Junaluska,” she said.  

Shell was recognized by Waynesville Police Chief David Adams at a town meeting shortly after the heroic act, but that wasn’t the end of it. He also put her in to receive the award from the Red Cross. Adams said Shell’s actions on that day are merely indicative of what she brings to the department on a regular basis.

“She’s an excellent selfless detective and officer,” he said. “We’re glad to have her here.”