ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 911 caller said Wednesday she was panicked about a friend being shot but stayed as calm as possible before a New Mexico dispatcher told her to “deal with it yourself” and hung up as she sought aid.
Esperanza Quintero, 17, said that she wished dispatcher Matthew Sanchez had done more to help after her friend Jaydon Chavez-Silver was shot in June while watching friends play cards inside a home. He later died.
In the recording, Quintero snaps at Sanchez for repeatedly asking whether the 17-year-old Chavez-Silver is breathing.
“It was upsetting at the time but I didn’t have a choice,” Quintero said. “What more could I have done?”
The exchange illustrates the stress that comes with life-and-death 911 calls and how they can be mishandled.
“Somebody with no experience at all, it’s almost understandable,” said Brett Patterson of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch. “But if you’re trained and certified, it’s not forgivable. That should never happen.”
Officials said Sanchez was employed by the Albuquerque Fire Department for 10 years and was a firefighter before being assigned to a dispatcher job. It was unclear why the change was made.
He resigned Tuesday after the recording was made public. Efforts to reach Sanchez were unsuccessful.
Most training makes emergency dispatchers aware that being on the receiving end of comments by an angry caller is a common occurrence. The key is not to take it personally, Patterson said.
“You need to keep yourself out of that fray and understand, empathize that people on the other end of the line are in their worst possible position,” he said.
