{"id":1082,"date":"2025-05-01T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2025-04-30T18:54:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T18:54:50","slug":"dont-be-afraid-to-help-your-fellow-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2025\/05\/01\/dont-be-afraid-to-help-your-fellow-human\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t be afraid to help your fellow human\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University Police Officer Chase Poore wasn\u2019t in uniform in the early hours of March 18.\u00a0He was off duty and unaware that he\u2019d be saving lives within a matter of minutes as he and his girlfriend, Ava Biggum, walked their little dog, Nugget, near Garden Park Apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was wearing a Savannah Bananas T-shirt and Hey Dudes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But then they saw smoke coming from the apartment building. They quickly took the dog home, before he hopped in the car and drove to get a closer view of the situation.<\/p>\n

\n\tI knew I had to get everybody out of there and get them to safety.<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Officer Chase Poore<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\u201cI realized it was on fire, and that\u2019s when I jumped a fence and started beating on doors and trying to kick them in to try to get everybody out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What would become a large fire had begun consuming the apartment building. In that moment, a lot of things kicked in all at once. He\u2019d had 15 weeks of training at the West Virginia State Police Academy. He knew what to do, and he knew which door he needed to start with and to finish with.<\/p>\n

Also, he\u2019d been raised in Mason County by his mother and father to help others when he can and to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstinct kicked in,\u201d Poore said. \u201cI knew I had to get everybody out of there and get them to safety. It\u2019s part of this job. If we know that lives are in danger, we need to help them out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave everybody one knock and scream. If that didn\u2019t work \u2014 if they weren\u2019t already leaving their apartment or outside of their apartment \u2014 I started kicking their doors down.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not sure exactly how much time passed, how many doors he pounded on or kicked in, and he\u2019s not sure how many people and pets he helped evacuate.<\/p>\n

\"Marshall<\/p>\n

\u201cSome were scared. Some were nervous,\u201d he said. \u201cSome didn\u2019t really know what was going on because I was their wakeup call \u2014 some random guy knocking their door down. I\u2019m just happy I got everybody out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he helped evacuate the people on one side of the apartment complex, while an EMS worker was busy helping evacuate residents of the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big thank you to all the first responders who helped put out the fire and gave aid to people who needed it, and to my girlfriend for being there too to give aid to everybody,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s going to school for surgery tech. Once I got everybody out, she went down the hill and was talking to people and checking on them, just providing them comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poore was recognized for his efforts by Marshall\u2019s Board of Governors. Looking back on the experience, he has one bit of advice. No matter the circumstances, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to help your fellow human,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you feel like somebody might be in danger, don\u2019t be afraid to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you feel like somebody might be in danger, don\u2019t be afraid to help them.<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Officer Chase Poore<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

That\u2019s the reason he wanted to become a police officer, a job that his brother has, as well as some family friends who also inspire him.<\/p>\n

Poore \u2014 who graduated from Marshall in 2024 with a degree in criminal justice \u2014 said he loves his job at his alma mater, where he works the overnight shift, handling \u201cbasic police duties\u201d that come up on campus. He encourages everyone to use basic caution at night, and to have a walking buddy when they\u2019re going anywhere late at night.<\/p>\n

He also wants everyone on and around campus to know that they can come to him for help. He wants them to know that campus officers are approachable and there for you, no matter what your question is or what you might need. Just ask, or just say hi and get to know them, in case you need something down the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to contact us,\u201d Poore said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s got your back.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University Police Officer Chase Poore wasn\u2019t in uniform in the early hours of March 18.\u00a0He was off duty and unaware that he\u2019d be saving lives within a matter of minutes as he and his girlfriend, Ava Biggum, walked their little dog, Nugget, near Garden Park Apartments. \u201cI was wearing a Savannah Bananas T-shirt and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}