911 Calls Reveal Confusion Delayed Emergency Responders After Christa Pike's Botched Execution

Confusion among dispatchers, first responders, and prison officials over the legitimacy of a medical assistance request delayed emergency responders for nearly half an hour after Christa Pike survived a botched lethal injection, according to 911 calls obtained by the Associated Press.

Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of a classmate, survived two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital on September 30. A 911 call was placed at 8:40 p.m., but prison officials did not confirm the request was valid until 9:11 p.m., when first responders were permitted to enter Riverbend Prison.

Audio from the 911 calls revealed uncertainty about the situation. At 9:03 p.m., an unidentified person stated, "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." However, just four minutes later, a responder reported that someone at the prison gate insisted the emergency was genuine and demanded entry.

According to her attorney, Pike, 50, was strapped to a gurney for approximately an hour as medical staff attempted to administer the lethal injection, with one needle bending upon removal from her arm. Following the execution attempt, she was taken to the hospital, where she was reportedly unconscious and on a ventilator. Her legal team expressed concerns that she might be brain dead.

However, Pike regained consciousness and began communicating the following week, asking "Where am I and who are you?" Her attorneys stated that she began walking the next day. They reported that Pike suffered from a blood clot in one arm, pneumonia, and significant swelling after the failed execution. They also indicated she was experiencing "cognitive challenges" and "profound psychological trauma," adding that "significant questions remain about the long-term effects of what she endured."

Pike was released from the hospital and returned to prison 10 days after the incident. She was slated to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in over two centuries, but instead became the first person in the U.S. to survive a lethal injection.

In 1995, Pike was convicted of murdering her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike, her boyfriend, and another associate lured Slemmer to an isolated area of the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus for torture and murder. Pike reportedly struck Slemmer's head and kept a piece of her skull as a memento.

The Tennessee Department of Correction has not released a statement regarding the cause of the botched execution.