- She had come over for mydaughter's birthday party.

Before she left, I told her I loved her,

and she said, "You shouldcome see me more often."

(Kenny weeping)

- [Reporter] Susan Cummingswas a loving mother

to her children, a cherished sister,

and an important member of her community.

- She had a heart toserve, she was a nurse.

She loved to help people.

She made it a point tobe at graduation parties

and birthday parties evenin her superhero costume,

I liked to call it, which was her scrubs.

- [Reporter] In the early morning hours

of August 16th, 2015,

Susan rode in a charity bike ride

to raise money for water wells in Kenya.

Her son, Kenny, learnedthere had been an accident

involving his mom.

- I was actually preparingfor a business trip.

I was gonna get up earlyand head to the airport

when I got a call.

And so I answered the phone

and it was my mom's best friend, Nancy.

She goes, "Kenny, your momhas been in a car accident."

I go, "Is she okay?"

And she goes, "No, she died.She's dead, and I'm so sorry."

I couldn't believe it,I was in total shock.

- When you get words like that,

it's just like a punch in the gut.

- When it set in and what had happened,

the details of what had happened,

that she was actually struck and killed

by a hit-and-run driver, I was furious

that someone would take,not only a human life,

he would take my mother from me

and leave her there to dieas if she was worthless.

- [Reporter] Soon after,

a man named Ronnie JoClaflin turned himself in.

- When Ronnie ultimately came forward,

I was relieved to finally have a scapegoat

for all the anger and frustration

that I was dealing with and hurt,

to be able to put it on someone,

be able to finally look at that person

and really judge them forwhat they had done in my mind.

- [Reporter] Tom, a pastor,says he knew almost immediately

he would have to forgivehis sister's killer.

- The reason I was ableto choose to forgive is,

when I was 16, I was jumpedby five or six Black guys

that stopped me and brokemy nose and stole my bike

and just left me there basically for dead.

And in that moment,

I had a feeling of racismthat entered my heart.

And it wasn't until I saw, Ibelieve it was Rodney King,

getting beat down on national television

that the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said,

"It's not the color of a man's skin,

but the spirit that drives him."

And so in that moment,

before the television, Ijust said, "God, I'm sorry.

Forgive me."

- [Reporter] The familywould eventually learn

that Ronnie had been using inhalants

the day of the accident.

Ronnie's trial and sentencingwas almost a year later.

It would be the family's first interaction

with the man who had killed Susan.

Then, shortly before the trial,something unusual happened.

- Ronnie had chose to plead guilty

and wanted to meet withus behind closed doors,

which by the way, never happens.

A lot of emotions werein the room that day.

But before we began thatmeeting with Ronnie,

before he entered the room, we prayed.

And so we invited the Holy Spirit there

and then Ronnie and theprosecuting attorney

and the defense attorneywalked in through the door,

and Ronnie was alreadytearful, already remorseful.

And there was a lot of crying in the room.

And as you can imagine,

we were finally seeing thisman for the first time.

I asked Ronnie, I said,

"Ronnie, are you sorry for what you did?"

And of course at that moment,

Ronnie said, "I do, and I'm sorry."

But each of my family members

including Susan's boyfriend, Roddy,

all said, "I forgive you."

- [Reporter] At the trial,

most of the family members were there

and shared their forgiveness publicly.

- We all prepared a statement of mercy

and we all read through

and confirmed to thecourt and to the judge

that we had forgiven Ronnie,

and that we sought mercyfor him on his behalf.

- Grace showed up in that courtroom.

Even the judge said, "In all my 20 years,

I have never seen thishappen in my courtroom."

- [Reporter] In 2016,contributions poured in

for the Kenyan water well project

that Susan had given her life for.

- I was invited to go to Kenya

to dedicate a water well in Susan's honor.

It was so overwhelming

to go to a place on theother side of the globe

and hear my sister being hailed as a hero.

I just can't begin to put into words

what I was experiencing,

and we were hearing themsinging joys about my sister.

- [Reporter] Tom says he hopes the grace

their family showed to Ronnie

will help others see thepower of forgiveness.

- Jesus tells us to forgive.

He said, "If you forgive,then I'll forgive.

If you don't forgive,then I won't forgive."

It's so powerful to think

that Jesus while hanging on the cross

and he looked down at them and said,

"Father, forgive them forthey know not what they do."

We think we're holdingour offender in prison,

but it's actually us.

We're holding ourselves hostage.

But when we say, "I choose, Ichoose, I choose to forgive,"

and we choose to forgive,

and we, again, faith it until we make it.

We begin to say, "I forgive,"

until that feeling becomes a reality.