26 replies to this topic

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

17-year-old Esperanza Quintero called 911 when her friend, also 17, was shot. Apparently the 911 operator, firefighter Matthew Sanchez, was unhappy with the young woman's salty language, so he hung up on her while her friend was dying. Transcript of the conversation:

 

QUINTERO: I’m doing CPR as we speak. I’m keeping him alive.
 
SANCHEZ: Okay, is he not breathing?
 
QUINTERO: Barely. Stay with him. [inaudible] Stay with him, good job. Just stay with me, okay, okay. There you go. Good job Jaydon.
 
SANCHEZ: Is he breathing?
 
QUINTERO: He’s barely breathing. How many times do I have to fucking tell you?
 
SANCHEZ: Okay, you know what ma’am? You could deal with it yourself. I’m not gonna deal with this, okay?
 
QUINTERO: No, my friend is dying —

 

Sanchez ended the call mid-sentence. The victim later died at the hospital.

 

Soundcloud clip of the conversation.

 

So remember, if you call 911 for an emergency, be polite.

[KiWi]

So what happens now.

"He has been placed on paid administrative duties following an investigation."

It's funny, but I'd like more context/idk. Seriously not cool. On both peoples parts. Don't know what would've happened, but eh. Life and death yo.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

On both people's parts? I would not fault a young woman for swearing in a situation like that. I would imagine 911 dispatchers hear that sort of thing all the time. But no, from the article I read it sounds like there will be bigger trouble for this guy. Which in a way is a shame, because my guess is that he's dealing with some issues of his own. But you can't hang up on 911 callers because you don't like their language. 

[Colt1945]

He should be fired if he can't handle some sass for that job.

[lennybronx]

He should definitely be fired. I've had to make frantic 911 calls before and believe me the last thing you are thinking about is being polite. Any dispatcher should be well aware of that before even applying for the job.  

[Manoka]

Well, they get prank callers all the time, so they might have thought it was that. 

 

Then again, I don't know the story at all. xP

[King Biscuit]

Fire and sue for negligence.

Unacceptable.

[Haflinger]

Being fired is the least of his worries.

 

How about a prosecution for criminal negligence causing death? 911 operators are the first line of emergency response, they must be relied on by everyone. He didn't just fail that woman, the one who swore at him, he failed the person who had been shot.

 

Who DIED.

 

This sounds like an excellent case of negligent homicide to me.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

I wonder if that would depend on the victim's condition? If there was no chance he was going to live anyway, would it still be negligent homicide?

[The Dark Empire]

The danger is that this one instance of someone not doing their job properly will install a fear in everyone that has heard the story that one day when they need help the very people who are supposed to help will turn their backs on them. This will only further fear and hatred of the police.

[Redezra]

What a douchecanoe.

[KiWi]

On both people's parts? I would not fault a young woman for swearing in a situation like that. I would imagine 911 dispatchers hear that sort of thing all the time. But no, from the article I read it sounds like there will be bigger trouble for this guy. Which in a way is a shame, because my guess is that he's dealing with some issues of his own. But you can't hang up on 911 callers because you don't like their language. 

I don't 'fault' her, but at the same time, you need to be cooperative. And usually when you're asking questions like "are they breathing" it's not only important medically (might have to start the CPR process, although I don't think that's the go-to like it used to be. You'd know more on that) but it also helps calm the person down (obviously it didn't work. And if he was asking questions, any questions with that as a secondary objective, he needed to be able to go another route to calming her down to get the information he needed).

Yea, I can't usually look at something and just think one side is completely right (or wrong).

[the rebel]

I read about this before, sounds like he was having a bad day. As for negligence, he sent the emergency services to her location so what more could he do, especially since she wasn't responding well with his instructions.

Edited by the rebel, 30 July 2015 - 07:54 AM.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

On both people's parts? I would not fault a young woman for swearing in a situation like that. I would imagine 911 dispatchers hear that sort of thing all the time. But no, from the article I read it sounds like there will be bigger trouble for this guy. Which in a way is a shame, because my guess is that he's dealing with some issues of his own. But you can't hang up on 911 callers because you don't like their language. 

I don't 'fault' her, but at the same time, you need to be cooperative. And usually when you're asking questions like "are they breathing" it's not only important medically (might have to start the CPR process, although I don't think that's the go-to like it used to be. You'd know more on that) but it also helps calm the person down (obviously it didn't work. And if he was asking questions, any questions with that as a secondary objective, he needed to be able to go another route to calming her down to get the information he needed).

Yea, I can't usually look at something and just think one side is completely right (or wrong).

 

I have to disagree with you here. In an emotionally charged situation you're not watching your language. Sorry, but it's just not a priority. And it's not like she was being verbally abusive to him. If you can't handle upset people using strong language you have no business being a 911 operator. He was 100% in the wrong.

[ᗅᗺᗷᗅ]

What a douchecanoe.

 

This is my new favorite word.

[KiWi]

On both people's parts? I would not fault a young woman for swearing in a situation like that. I would imagine 911 dispatchers hear that sort of thing all the time. But no, from the article I read it sounds like there will be bigger trouble for this guy. Which in a way is a shame, because my guess is that he's dealing with some issues of his own. But you can't hang up on 911 callers because you don't like their language. 

I don't 'fault' her, but at the same time, you need to be cooperative. And usually when you're asking questions like "are they breathing" it's not only important medically (might have to start the CPR process, although I don't think that's the go-to like it used to be. You'd know more on that) but it also helps calm the person down (obviously it didn't work. And if he was asking questions, any questions with that as a secondary objective, he needed to be able to go another route to calming her down to get the information he needed).

Yea, I can't usually look at something and just think one side is completely right (or wrong).

 
I have to disagree with you here. In an emotionally charged situation you're not watching your language. Sorry, but it's just not a priority. And it's not like she was being verbally abusive to him. If you can't handle upset people using strong language you have no business being a 911 operator. He was 100% in the wrong.
 

That's fine. I'm not trying to say she's wrong, or at fault (again, 'at fault' or 'wrong'), but you shouldn't curse at the people trying to help you. What more can the guy do. I don't disagree that he's wrong however. I suppose my take away is, I don't think the guy should be held responsible so long as certain things (like help being dispatched to their location, help eventually got through whatever) are done. Now if he held up the process so help was delayed (or hell, never got there) he should absolutely be held responsible.

Eh. We can disagree. I'm just torn.

[slimshadyinc]

Shouldn't be in that line of work if you can't handle panicked people. If you can't handle a little cussing from someone who's fucking friend is dying. Well damn, your in the wrong.

[Haflinger]

I wonder if that would depend on the victim's condition? If there was no chance he was going to live anyway, would it still be negligent homicide?

I thought the victim was female. Anyway, yes, it does depend on that in most codes. But you get into some really tricky situations with the facts in these cases: and the duty of care imposed on 911 operators is just about the heaviest duty of care of anyone in existence, for obvious reasons.

 

If the facts were at all murky - that is, she might have survived if he'd done his job properly - then he could well be looking at jail time.

 

See if the D.A. goes for it. The guy's a fireman, sometimes people in that line of work get treated differently though.

 

The danger is that this one instance of someone not doing their job properly will install a fear in everyone that has heard the story that one day when they need help the very people who are supposed to help will turn their backs on them. This will only further fear and hatred of the police.

I agree with the basic point here completely, but 911 operators are not usually police officers. This person was described as being a fireman in the story. So change "police" to "authority figures" and you got it.

[Manoka]

Well, to be fair, he could just call again and, 9-11 operators get prank callers all the time so it's hard to know if the person is telling the truth or not. However this does seem like kind of a bad move by the operator.  

[KiWi]

He is completely in the wrong, I'm just not fully comfortable with assigning the responsibility of the death on him. Which is why I'm waffling on the issue.

I suppose you have negligence, and manslaughter for these types of things, but I don't know how far I'd go punishment wise. Again, I want to know if what could've been done from the phoneline's end was done or not. That's also why these things are "investigated". Does seem like a cheap copout that he was just put on "paid administrative leave". That always sounds like bullshit. I heard the clip. I don't know how you come back from "paid [] leave" after something like this. But then again, police do shit all the time. (strange, we all have our bias'. If it was a police officer that did anything to cause a death, I'd be much more up the wall. But because it was on the phone, and it was a firefighter/citizen, I'm more understanding.)