Keith Poche just wanted to give back – he didn’t expect an award, but from the sounds of it, he certainly deserved one.
“His voluntary act of initiating and navigating successful rescues with Houston Police Department demonstrated a high level of compassion as well as unusual courage and heroism,” read the Humanitarian Service Award he received from the HPD early this year.
After the end of a disappointing 2017 Bassmaster Elite Series season, Poche said he was available and realized a need for help after Hurricane Harvey inundated the entire Houston region with days of heavy rain. So he left his home in Pike Road, Ala., and met up with a friend in Lake Charles, La., before completing a 10-hour trek to Kingwood, Texas, just north of Houston.
“My family has been through that back home in Louisiana years ago, so I knew what the people were going through,” said Poche, who hails from Natchitoches. “My season had just ended – I had a terrible run up north – I got home and said, ‘Hey, let’s go try to do what I can.’”
Through radio reports and an app he found, he learned where he could help. He reported at the flood’s edge in Kingwood early in the morning of August 29.
“I was pretty much the first one there. There was some police officers standing around, and they couldn’t do anything – they had no boats,” said Poche, who immediately launched his aluminum boat and went out with officer Wesley Jones. “We pretty much went to work right away and worked all day.”
The pair got into some hairy situations, Poche reported, as flood waters were moving swiftly in areas of the neighborhoods around Lake Houston. They worked mostly to find residents who needed help and transfered them to safety.
“You got to understand where you’re at,” he said. “They had strong current. It was high and moving, so you really had to play the current and understand how to maneuver the boat.”
His most harrowing rescue involved rescuing some other rescuers.
“I watched a boat in front of me hit a light pole and it went under and I had to save them,” he said. “It was pretty wild stuff. There were many situations, back and forth all day, doing all kinds of rescues.”
In that particular rescue, the water was so swift that one of the deputies who was pulled into Poche’s boat had his boots ripped off by the current.
“Another example of his skill was his assistance of a father who needed to get insulin and other supplies to his diabetic son,” the commendation read. “No other boat could make it but Mr. Poche navigated guard rails, trees, currents and submerged vehicles in order to get the father to his son.”
It’s a given that Elite anglers would possess superior boating skills, and the HPD was grateful Poche offered his. The 37-year-old said he grew up boating in Louisiana and first obtained a boater’s license when he was 15. He began fishing competitively on the Alabama and Coosa Rivers, where rocky outcrops are present below the dams.
“You’ve got to learn how to navigate your boat below those dams, around the rocks without losing control,” Poche said. “It’s definitely different navigating in rocks, then adding current makes it more difficult.”
Poche’s work left the HPD calling him one of the best boat captains because he was able to get into places that other boats could not and saved people and pets that might not otherwise have gotten out.
“ … he had a skill set, equipment and expertise to make a difference. He ultimately put himself in harm’s way to ensure the safety and welfare of the citizens of Houston,” the wording on his Humanitarian Service Award concluded.
“I was just thankful to be available and lend a hand,” Poche said. “All’s I heard is they needed help. I didn’t expect to get any award. I went over there and did what I could for a couple days and went home. Like I said, my family has been through that and we’ve gotten help before and I just wanted to return the favor and do what I could.”
