911 Dispatchers Questioned Legitimacy of Failed Execution Call

Newly released 911 dispatch recordings detail a series of miscommunications that led to delayed emergency response following the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike in Tennessee. The first 911 call reporting the incident came in around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, approximately an hour after Pike's scheduled execution was to begin.

The caller informed dispatchers of a failed execution but could not provide a verification code, prompting operators to question the legitimacy of the report. "So we have a medical call for service at the Riverbend Prison," one dispatcher is heard saying in audio obtained by the Associated Press. "We are trying to find out if that is an actual thing that is happening and we need to send an ambulance, and/or if you need police assistance, or if this is someone that is just basically prank calling or like swatting us."

Later, at approximately 9:03 p.m., a dispatcher is heard canceling the emergency response, stating, "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."

Further confusion emerged when dispatchers attempted to verify the situation with Riverbend Prison staff. A dispatcher asked a prison employee, "We got a call about a failed execution at your guys’ facility and we’re just calling to verify." The employee responded, "Um… who called you?" and indicated that no one from the facility had made the call.

However, Pike's attorney, Kelly Gleason, also called 911 at approximately 9:08 p.m. to report the botched execution. "What’s going on is my client, Christa Gail Pike, is undergoing a state execution. She has completed the stages of the protocol and last we knew from the attorney who is present, she is still alive and breathing and needs immediate life-saving care," Gleason stated.

Around the same time, a first responder on a separate recording indicated that "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." Prison's Central Control then authorized first responders to enter the facility at 9:11 p.m.

Pike was on an ambulance and being transferred to a hospital by 9:34 p.m.

Pike was convicted of First Degree Murder and Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder in 1996 for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She had been on death row for over 30 years.

Prison officials administered a single dose of pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug. When Pike remained conscious, a second dose was administered. As the second dose also failed to end her life, the state's single-drug execution protocol meant a third dose could not be given.

Pike was taken to a hospital, where she remained unconscious on a ventilator for six days, waking on Oct. 6. She was returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center on Oct. 10 to continue receiving medical care.

Following the incident, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee paused all state executions pending a review.