Radio traffic from response to Sen. Graham’s home: Emergency radio traffic indicates that Senator Lindsey Graham suffered chest pains before going into cardiac arrest Saturday night.
Efforts to revive the South Carolina lawmaker were not successful. Graham died two days after his 71st birthday.
This is the second time within a month that the DC Fire and EMS Department was dispatched to the Capitol Hill home of a Republican U.S. Senator reported to be in cardiac arrest.
The first was Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky on June 14th.
The radio traffic from OpenMHz.com indicates that the 911 caller last night was a woman in Baltimore. The crew from Engine 7 arrived and could not get anyone to answer the door. They apparently forced entry into the home.
The radio traffic suggests that Senator Graham may not have been in immediate cardiac arrest when they arrived, but there is no confirmation of that.
I wanted to get this up because the conspiracy theories have already begun.
Here’s the unofficial timeline for the call:
- 8:27:34 Engine 7 and Medic 7 (a paramedic ambulance) were dispatched to Graham’s home on South Capitol Street SE (I’ve omitted the street numbers).
- 8:32:34 Engine 7 requested a callback to get someone inside to open the locked front door.
- 8:33:34 (timestamp missing on video) Dispatcher reported that the caller said she was not in the home and the door is unlocked.
- 8:34:15 Dispatcher reported that the caller asked if they knocked on the door, believing the patient would answer. Engine 7 responded, “Yes. Repeatedly.”
- 8:35:05 Dispatcher said the caller is coming from Baltimore. The dispatcher asked Engine 7 if they would like a ladder truck company to force entry and asked about the need for DC Police. Engine 7 said they will need police, but they could handle forcing entry into the home.
- 8:53:28 Engine 7 reported CPR was in progress “now” and requested an EMS supervisor (standard on cardiac arrest calls).
- 8:54:00 EMS 6, an EMS supervisor, was dispatched.
- 9:13:41 Battalion Chief 2 told the dispatcher to attach him to the run with Engine 7 (this is not routine on most cardiac arrest calls and is likely an indication of who the patient was).
The nuns in my elementary school used to have us pray for a peaceful death, which made no sense to me as a young child. However, dying suddenly might not be so terrible for the deceased, but it’s awful for those who cared for him.
