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911 dispatcher to friend of dying teen: ‘deal with it yourself’

The dispatcher, Matthew Sanchez, had been reassigned after officials got word of the call, fire officials said Monday. However, a Tuesday evening statement from the office of Albuquerque’s chief administrative officer said that Sanchez has resigned from the fire department, The Associated Press reports.

Jaydon Chavez-Silver was a star football player at his high school.

Jaydon Chavez-Silver was a star football player at his high school.
YouTube screen grab ABC News

The call came in June after Jaydon Chavez-Silver, 17, was shot as he watched other teens playing cards at the house of a friend. He died later on. Police haven’t named a suspect and have not arrested anyone.

Esperanza Quintero can be heard during the call trying to comfort her friend, KOAT7 Albuquerque reports

“Good job, just stay with me, okay, okay? There you go, good job Jaydon,” she said during the call.

On the call, Sanchez can be heard asking Quintero at least twice if Chavez-Silver was still breathing, The New York Daily News reports.

“He’s barely breathing,” an exasperated Quintero says. “How many times do I have to f—ing tell you?”

After a pause, Sanchez appears to say “Okay, you know what ma’am? You can deal with it yourself. I am not going deal with this, Okay?”

“No, my friend is dying, I need …” the panicked caller says on the recording. Then the call cuts out.

“It’s part of the job to keep you calm in these situations,” Quintero told KOAT, per The New York Daily News. “I said, ‘How could he do that?’ and I just dropped my phone.”

“I was frantic, I was scared,” she said. “I’m only 17. I didn’t know how to handle the situation. I did the best I could. I tried to stay calm.”

Melissa Romero, a spokeswoman for the fire department told the Albuquerque Journal that Sanchez had dispatched an ambulance before he hung up. Emergency responders arrived on scene about four minutes and 26 seconds later.

Sanchez was with the Fire Department for 10 years, and was originally a firefighter who had the rank of driver, Romero said. He worked at the emergency dispatch center for three years and five months, she added.

“An internal investigation has been initiated,” said Albuquerque Fire Department Chief David Downey said. “I am taking the allegation very seriously.”

Quintero doesn’t think reassigning Sanchez was enough.

“He should find something else to do because, obviously, helping somebody is not for him,” she told KOAT, per The New York Daily News. “Just a little, ‘Hey I’m here, it’s going to be okay, don’t worry.’ Something little, instead of ‘What are you doing, what are you doing, what are you doing, where are you at,’ then click.”

Chavez-Silver was a popular athlete at Marazano High School. He died later at the hospital and his killer remains at large.

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