Operator tells 911 caller tending to dying boy: ‘Deal with it yourself’

news.com.au ^ | 29 july 2015

[DUMBGRUNT]

AN EMERGENCY services dispatcher has resigned after telling a panicked 911 caller tending to a dying shooting victim to “deal with it yourself”. A woman called 911 on June 26 when she was trying to save the life of a 17-year-old boy, Jaydon Chavez-Silver, who was shot at a friend’s house in the US city of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Good help is hard to get.

And,politically correct workers that are capable...very hard to find.

[proxy_user]

These lines are recorded, aren’t they? You’d have to be an awfully dumb employee to do that. Not only will you lose your job, you’ll never work again.

[BenLurkin]

When calamity strikes and injuries occur — we all need to be able to deal with it ourselves.

[IYAS9YAS]

These lines are recorded, aren’t they? You’d have to be an awfully dumb employee to do that. Not only will you lose your job, you’ll never work again.

I haven't heard the full transcript yet (yet another wonderful day in Albuquerque), but the locals channels are really going after it. The lady on the other end, obviously distraught, was cussing and yelling, but that's no excuse for an operator to hang up on her.

[T-Bird45]

I was glad to read the dispatcher decided to quit rather than be fired.

[Theo]

I agree with you. If you’re with someone who is dying, *you* are the one who has to personally deal with the issue, not some person miles away on a telephone. Maybe the Operator was trying to get the person to “be present” during the boy’s last minutes of life.

[Moonman62]

There are always plenty of openings for dispatchers. It’s a difficult and stressful job.

[Crusher138]

This has been all over our local news. Basically, the young woman requesting assistance was (understandably) upset and panicking and dropped the f-bomb when asked for the umpteenth time whether the boy was breathing. The operator took offence and ended the call. The ambulance had already been dispatched. At that point the operator’s job was to make sure appropriate aid was being administered until the ambulance arrived. It was a heartless and unprofessional move to hang up on her, but it likely didn’t contribute to his death. The operator has resigned.

[Eddie01]

Burnout.

[envisio]

Seems to me that one of the first things these operators are taught is that people that call 911 are usually emotional if not outright hysterical and to get used to dealing with that.

[dfwgator]

Public Enemy was right, “911 is a Joke.”

[Myrddin]

My wife has been a police/fire/EMS dispatcher since 1995. The turnover is a real pain. Finding people who can do the job is hard. Background checks. Ability to multitask. Ability to complete the training. Officer safety awareness. Good intuition in finding support information "on the fly" when requested via radio. Stress takes many of them. Better job offers, moves to another area, pregnancy and unforgivable errors on the job take more. Two current members of the staff are going from a home sale/move to Boise and another from pregnancy. Just completed training two new hires. Fifteen weeks of training to reach the level that can be trusted to operate unassisted. Barely two weeks after being "signed off", one of them gets a much better paying offer from the FBI. Hiring reqs are out again. Backgrounds, drug tests, voice stress analysis interviews, then whittle down the applicants. Meanwhile, the remaining staff shoulders 12 on / 12 off shifts to keep the place together.

[wiggen]

Well i disagree with both of you. Why have 911 calls at all if deal with it yourself is what people should be doing? Your home is burning down? Turn on the faucet.

[Marie]

The cops are calling for the 911 operator to be fired. They’re furious.

[T-Bird45]

RTA - the operator has pre-emptively fired himself by resigning.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The victim was a team mate of a young man who helps out at my local range (top notch young fellow). The victim was just that, not involved in gangs or other problems. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Marie]

I’m sorry. Not fired. Prosecuted. (didn’t think before posting)

[T-Bird45]

OK, understood...that’s never happened to me...:-)

[IYAS9YAS]

The victim was a team mate of a young man who helps out at my local range (top notch young fellow). The victim was just that, not involved in gangs or other problems. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yes. It's sad. I got that impression when I first heard the story. Like I said, the lady on the phone was in distress, which is a normal state for just about anyone who's trying to keep someone alive with, more than likely, minimal knowledge of any first aid. The 9-1-1 operator, thankfully, has resigned.