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Richard Sherman: Ashley Moss's 911 call probed after 'rude' dispatcher allegations

In the 911 call, the dispatcher appeared to be rude to Richard Sherman's wife Ashley Moss and 'taking control'

A distressed call that the wife of Richard Sherman made to 911 is now being investigated after it was alleged that the dispatcher was rude to her. Ashley Moss reportedly called 911 for help after the former Seattle Seahawks cornerback drove into a construction site and then tried to break into his in-law's house in the suburb of Redmond, Seattle, last week.

Sherman was arrested early on July 14 by Redmond police. The wife of the NFL star made the call alleging that her husband was inebriated and threatening to take his life. The recording of the call was made public by KIRO radio. Moss was heard saying in the call that she wanted cops immediately at her home in Washington. She had said, “this is a f**king emergency!” The operator answering the call seemed aggressive towards her. At one point, the dispatcher was heard saying things, like, “You need to stop interrupting me so I can get the information I need,” and “Listen to me, I’m handling this! You need to stop telling me that!”

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People on the internet slammed the operator as a user tweeted, “not sharing the the Richard Sherman 911 call but couple of things about it: 1) dispatcher needs to be fired immediately for being confrontational with person very clearly in shock/distress 2) the NFLPA needs to get RS help for whatever he’s going through asap beyond sad.” Another one wrote, “My 19 year old nephew called for an ambulance for his fiancé and was talked to like a dog and hung up on. She ended up having emergency surgery at 4 am for a ruptured ovary.”

After receiving complaints of the dispatcher, the Redmond police department clarified that the call will be probed by the King County Sheriff's Office. The department said in a statement, “The Redmond Police Department has received a series of misdirected complaints following the release of 911 audio from last week’s arrest of Richard Sherman. Online petitions and social media comments have raised questions about how the King County Sheriff’s Office handled initial 911 calls from unincorporated King County. Many have mistakenly associated those calls to the City of Redmond’s Communications Center, which is not connected to the King County Sheriff’s Office.”

The statement also added that King County Sheriff's Office “opened an administrative review of this matter that will take several months to conclude.” While former King County Sheriff, John Urquhart, defended the operator by saying, “The dispatcher has certain information she has to get, and she has to get it right now.” He added: “She’s short with the woman because she’s taking control. Any time you’re in a conversation with someone, when someone takes control, that makes people step back and say, ‘hey wow what’s going on here?’ But in this case, they don’t understand why it’s so important, why it’s absolutely critical and it can be life and death. They may be upset with kind of the tone of it. But when you realize all that has to be done, it’s just fine.”

Meanwhile, after Sherman’s arrest, he has been charged with burglary, domestic violence, resisting arrest, and malicious mischief for damage to his in-laws' door. Redmond police chief Darrell Lowe said the domestic violence charge stemmed from him allegedly confronting his in-laws and “not due to him physically assaulting a significant other”.