A Death in the Family

[phone ringing] [gentle music] The phone woke Susan Beach from a dead sleep.

Without her glasses, she couldn't tell what time it was, but she knew the voice on the other end of the phone.

It was Cindy Sommer, the mother of one of her daughter's friends.

She told me that her husband had collapsed on the floor, that she called the paramedics, and they were on their way, and she needed somebody to stay with her children.

Susan quickly dressed, woke her two kids, and hustled them out to the car for the 10 to 15-minute drive to the Sommers' home.

I noticed that the ambulance and the MPs hadn't arrived yet, and I had to figure out where to park.

I didn't want to park near her house to be in the way of the paramedics.

Susan did not see Cindy when she and her kids arrived, so she walked in, past the stairway that led to the upstairs bedrooms.

She assumed Cindy was up there with Todd.

Straight ahead, Susan saw Cindy's four kids in the living room

roomThe kids were talking.

I talked to them, but I just can't remember the conversations.

I eventually sat on the floor, 'cause there was no place to sit.

[ambulance siren]

Although Susan did not see the first responders arrive, she says the children heard them coming through the door.

They were curious, and I think they heard them come, and I, uh, had to tell them to stay out of the way.

I was relieved when they were there, because I felt like they could fix everything.

That's Cindy.

I guess because they didn't put him on a stretcher and take him right away, you know, I'm like, "Why, why aren't they taking him?" You know, and I didn't realize that he wasn't stable, that they had to transport when they were stable.

Todd Sommer was far from stable.

Cindy says she was ushered out of the room, never saw the EMTs frantically performing CPR.

She didn't see defibrillator paddles applied, or the intravenous drugs paramedics pumped into Todd's body, hoping to restart his heart.

I didn't know what to do, you know? And I, I guess I grew up thinking that once the paramedics have them and they go to the hospital, that things turn out okay.

After about 45 minutes, Todd's body was strapped to a gurney and taken out the front door to a waiting ambulance.

[camera shutters] Cindy was outside, chain-smoking nervously, when the gurney rolled by.