This 17-Year-Old Died After 911 Dispatcher Told Panicked Caller to ''Deal With It'' and Hung Up—Listen!

Matthew Sanchez has resigned since the incident

By Bruna Nessif Jul 30, 2015 1:22 AMTags
Jaydon Chavez-SilverFacebook

A woman was faced with a terrible emergency, but when she called for help, she was greeted with a shocking response.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, teen Jaydon Chavez-Silver, 17, was shot in a drive-by shooting last month while attending a house party. A female friend instantly called 911 to get help, but became irritated with the dispatcher at one point and swore at him.

That's when the unthinkable happened—he hung up on her.

In audio 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 an eyebrow-raising 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.

Emergency response units had reportedly already fled to the scene before Sanchez hung up on the caller, but unfortunately, Chavez-Silver was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The dispatcher's handling of the call has raised questions about how Sanchez allegedly could have turned the caller away, and whether he is believed to have handled other calls improperly. The Albuquerque Fire Department is investigating, a spokesperson said Tuesday, however the fire department has revealed that Sanchez has resigned.

"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.

Sanchez, who had been with the fire department for 10 years and had been a dispatcher for the last 3 years and 5 months.

A spokesperson for the family, Dan Sparago, told KRQE they were heartbroken by the dispatcher's behavior on the call. "They're beyond belief about what happened," he said. "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.