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Seventeen-year-old Jaydon Chavez-Silver died after he was struck by a drive-by shooter. But would the teen have lived if the 911 dispatcher hadn't hung up on his friend's desperate call?
Chavez-Silver was at a party with friends in Albuquerque when a gunman shot into the house. An audio recording shows that a female friend of Chavez-Silver called 911 and was urging the teen to stay with her while she relayed information to the dispatcher. In her frantic state she used profanity, and that's when she lost contact with the dispatcher.
"Is he breathing?" the dispatcher asked.
"He's barely breathing. How many time do I f---ing have to tell you?" the woman exclaimed.
"Okay, you know what, ma'am?" the dispatcher replied. "You can deal with it yourself. I'm not going to deal with this, okay."
"No, he's going to die!" the woman says just before the call is cut off.
Did the dispatcher cruelly drop the call deliberately?
Albuquerque Fire Department Chief David Downey says the dispatcher, identified as Matthew Sanchez, was removed from the center and placed on administrative leave. Downey says he is conducting an internal investigation.
But that won't bring back Nicole Chavez's son. "That call was heartbreaking," she told NBC News. "There's no other way to describe it. To hear his friends try to help him fight for his life ..."
911 dispatchers are supposed to be trained to deal with all kinds of behavior. Not everyone can remain civil and lucid during an emergency! I can't blame the young woman for using profanity. How can you expect anyone to behave perfectly when they're watching their friend die right in front of them?
"We heard rumors about the 911 operator hanging up on the caller when Jaydon was shot but had no other information," Chavez said in a statement to KOB News. "After hearing the call today, it is heartbreaking to listen to. Right now, we just want to find the people responsible for this violent, deadly crime."
Chavez will never see her son graduate from high school. He may have died from the gunshot anyway, regardless of how quickly help reached him. But we'll never know, and that makes the tragedy that much worse for this boy's loved ones.
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Image via NBC News
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