ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – 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.
Seventeen-year-old Esperanza Quintero told The Associated Press 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.