Madison dispatcher on viral 911 call: “It’s been kind of shocking”
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REXBURG – A Madison County emergency dispatcher is receiving worldwide attention for a 911 call he received from two men transporting drugs into Idaho.
EastIdahoNews.com posted the phone recording last week. Since then, it’s gone viral with over 30 million views online.
“I was kind of surprised that it went that big as fast as it did,” Cullin Sherman, the dispatcher, tells EastIdahoNews.com. “It’s been kind of shocking.”
Sherman was working his normal shift Jan. 23, 2015, when he received the phone call from Leland Ayala-Doliente.
“Hi, uh, we’re the two dumbasses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons,” Ayala-Doliente says to Sherman on the call. “I’d just like for you guys to end it. If you could help me out with that, we would like to just get on with it.”
Sherman’s been a dispatcher for nine years and has received thousands of calls, but this one is one he’ll never forget.
“I recognized pretty quickly that there was some possible intoxication or influence of something going on,” Sherman says. “Once I hung up the phone, I kind of chuckled and shook my head and I’m like, ‘That really happened, huh?’”
Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Holland Sward, 23, a passenger in the vehicle, each pleaded guilty to drug charges. They were sentenced last year and Sherman thought the story was over – until the call went viral.
“It was friends and family who told me that it was being played on FOX News and ‘The Late Late Show’ and all these national sites,” Sherman says.
Sherman says the humorous phone call shows his job isn’t always depressing and there can be some humorous moments too.
“There are times when we can actually relax and laugh a little bit about what happens,” Sherman says. “Not everything is tragic and doom and gloom.”
The humble dispatcher says he has no desire to be famous and isn’t comfortable in the spotlight, but he does admit the past week has been kind of fun as his voice has been heard around the world.
“I’m always telling my new dispatchers to be careful they don’t ever say anything that could to end up on CNN,” Sherman says with a laugh. “I never thought it would be the case with me.”
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