Emergency help delayed by confusion after failed execution of Christa Pike, 911 calls reveal

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed due to confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials following her failed execution last month, 911 dispatch records show.

The recordings, obtained Monday by The Associated Press through a public records request, show precious minutes passed as officials and responders tried to determine whether a request for emergency help in the execution chamber was legitimate.

The first 911 call came in at 8:40 p.m. on September 30, a little over an hour after the lethal injection attempt began. But the caller was unable to provide a code to verify the legitimacy of the request.

“According to DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) supervisors, we were informed that this was a false call,” a dispatcher said at 9:03 p.m. “No medical assistance is needed at Riverbend Prison.”

It wasn’t until about a half-hour after the initial call — around 9:11 p.m. — that prison officials claimed the call was real and began letting responders through the doors.

Neither the Tennessee Department of Corrections nor Pike’s legal team immediately responded to requests for comment.

The prisoner becomes a patient

Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995. She was 18 when she tortured and killed Slemmer with her boyfriend, becoming one of the youngest women on death row.

State protocol calls for a second dose of pentobarbital if the first does not result in death, but it does not specify what to do if an inmate survives the second injection.

The first 911 call, released only as a written transcript, indicated that Pike was unconscious and not breathing normally.

After being taken to the hospital, Pike was on a ventilator for several days. At one point, her lawyers didn’t expect her to survive. She regained consciousness last Tuesday and began speaking limited and walking with assistance, they said. Pike was released from the hospital and returned to the women’s prison where she was held for 30 years, her lawyers said Saturday.

The confusion begins with the first call to 911

The initial call came from a person whose name and title had been redacted. The caller told a dispatcher they were at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution where they attempted to execute someone, but she was still alive.

As emergency workers worked to verify the call, they were in contact with representatives of the prison’s central control, who said that “they would have been the ones to call” and that they “did not make that call,” according to a recording timestamped at 9:07 p.m.

Around the same time, a first responder could be heard on the radio saying, “There’s someone at the prison gate, telling us it’s real and demanding us to come in. They’re saying they’re some kind of state representative. I need someone to come out to the gate and talk to these people.”

Central control confirmed the call was legitimate a few minutes later, clearing the way for responders to enter through the doors around 9:11 p.m. An AP reporter saw an ambulance and fire trucks pull up to the building inside the prison campus at 9:14 p.m.

At 9:34 p.m., as medics were transporting Pike to the hospital, one of them asked the dispatcher to make sure the jail knew where they were taking him.

“Just because there have been so many other confusions, I want to make sure they are aware of that,” the speaker said.

Two more calls were made

The Nashville Department of Emergency Communications released the batch of dispatcher audio recordings with some redactions. Police said audio from the first 911 call was exempt from public release under state law.

Two subsequent emergency calls were made, including one at 9:08 p.m. from one of Pike’s attorneys, Kelly Gleason.

“My client, Christa Gail Pike, is the subject of a state execution. She has gone through the protocol steps and last I heard from the attorney present, she is still alive and breathing and in need of immediate life-saving care,” Gleason said on the call.

Other executions suspended pending review

The Tennessee Department of Corrections has not said what happened during the attempted execution. Gov. Bill Lee suspended further execution attempts pending a review. It is unclear whether the state will attempt to execute Pike again.

Medical experts have discussed a few possibilities that could explain how Pike was able to survive, including potential problems with drug quality and the placement of IV lines causing the drug to build up in his tissues.

Before the attempted execution, Pike’s lawyers told courts and prison officials that she suffered from a blood disorder that could cause clotting at injection sites.