Emergency Response Delayed for Christa Pike After Failed Execution

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed due to confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials following her failed lethal injection on September 30, according to 911 dispatch recordings reviewed by The Associated Press. The recordings indicate that significant time passed as officials and responders attempted to determine the legitimacy of a request for emergency assistance in the execution chamber. The first call was made at 8:40 p.m., and it took approximately 30 minutes before prison officials confirmed the request was legitimate and allowed responders to enter the prison. An unidentified person stated at 9:03 p.m., "Per supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) we have been informed it is a false call. There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison." Four minutes later, a responder reported, "Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it's real and demanding us to go in. They say they are some sort of state official. I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people." It was not until 9:11 p.m. that prison officials confirmed the call for help was legitimate. Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital during the state's attempt to execute her for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. At one point, Pike was on a ventilator, and her attorneys did not expect her to survive. However, they reported that Pike woke up and began talking and walking with assistance, and she has since been discharged and returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women's prison where she was housed for 30 years. The Tennessee Department of Correction has not disclosed what went wrong during the attempted execution. Medical and lethal injection experts are investigating whether an issue with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream.