A young woman faced with a life-and-death situation turned to the authorities for help, but was met with a shocking response.
Last month, Albuquerque, New Mexico, teen Jaydon Chavez-Silver, 17, was shot in a drive-by shooting while attending a house party. A female friend called 911 for help, but the call took a turn for the worse, when the panicked caller became irritated with the dispatcher at one point.
That’s when the unthinkable happened — he hung up on her. In an audio clip of the 911 call obtained by local station KRQE on Monday, firefighter Matthew Sanchez, who was assigned to the dispatch center that night, can be heard giving the caller a shocking response and hanging up as she tries to perform CPR on her friend.
“Is he breathing?” Sanchez can be heard asking the woman.
“He’s barely breathing,” the caller responded. “How many times do I have to f–king tell you?”
“OK, you know what, ma’am? You can deal with it yourself. I’m not gonna deal with this, OK?” Sanchez said. “No, my friend is dying!” the woman says as Sanchez disconnects the call.
Although emergency response units had already been dispatched to the scene before Sanchez hung up on the panicked caller, Chavez-Silver was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Sanchez’s handling of the call has raised a few eyebrows and questions have arisen about whether he’s handled other calls improperly. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for The Albuquerque Fire Department stated that they’re currently investigating the incident, however, Sanchez has already resigned, revealed the fire department. “Driver Matthew Sanchez tendered his resignation of employment from the Albuquerque Fire Department effective immediately,” fire department Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry said in a statement of Sanchez, who had been with the fire department for 10 years and a dispatcher for the more than three years.
Dan Sparago, a spokesperson for the family told KRQE that they are heartbroken by Sanchez’s behavior and “beyond belief about what happened. But at the same time they want to focus on [catching] the people who did this.”
Albuquerque police are still investigating the shooting. No arrests have been made.
