Dallas 20-Year-Old Found Dead After 911 Call Mix-Up
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The family of Matthew Sanchez, 20, wonders if he would be alive today if paramedics had responded to his friend's 911 call for help.
Paramedics did respond to a different emergency at the same far North Dallas apartment complex on November 16, when the call for Sanchez came in.
However, first responders were told the second call was for the same emergency and never came to Sanchez's aid.
Dallas Fire Rescue officials say 9-1-1 operators gave emergency crews Matthew Sanchez's address, after receiving a frantic call from a friend.
However, paramedics were already at the complex, yards away on an emergency call made ten minutes earlier.
The EMS team was told it was the same emergency. But that was the wrong information.
"We automatically link them together. We think we have one incident. We move forward with that assumption," said Dallas Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Lavender.
Hours later, the mother of Matthew Sanchez found him inside the apartment. The person who initially made the 911 call, was nowhere to be found.
Dallas Fire Rescue says the mix-up would have been avoided if the caller had stayed with Sanchez.
"The caller left the location. He was important to this situation. They could've found the paramedics and said, come to my incident," explained Lt. Lavender.
The cause of Matthew Sanchez's death and the investigation into the emergency response to the complex where he died are both still pending.
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