On a humid morning in late June, Sgt. Gordon Reed set out on what was meant to be a routine Physical Fitness Test with his reserve unit in Orlando, Florida. The motor vehicle operator and father of one collapsed in the final stretch of the test’s three-mile run.

Nearly an hour-and-a-half later, a doctor at a nearby hospital declared Reed dead following what his family and former leadership described as a series of catastrophic decisions made by members of his unit in response to the emergency. He was 30.

Task & Purpose spoke with more than half a dozen people and reviewed medical documents and internal unit correspondence related to Reed’s death. These accounts show that what could have been a 20-minute ride to a hospital — or an even shorter drive to a fire station — turned into a much

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