Christa Pike medical help delayed after failed Nashville execution attempt

Emergency medical help for condemned inmate Christa Pike was delayed in Nashville following her failed execution, 911 dispatch recordings show. Confusion between first responders and Tennessee prison officials slowed emergency assistance inside the prison execution chamber last month.

What went wrong during the execution attempt remains unestablished publicly by the Tennessee Department of Correction. The state agency has not publicly explained the lethal injection failure.

The first emergency call came in at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30. The call occurred just over an hour after the attempted lethal injection.

The caller could not provide a verification code. At 9:03 p.m., a dispatcher said officials were told the call was false.

“Per supervisors here at the DEC, we have been informed it is a false call,” the dispatcher said. “There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.”

The caller was at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, according to a written transcript released by the Department of Emergency Communications. The name and title were redacted.

The caller reported Pike was unconscious and not breathing normally. Officials had attempted to execute an inmate, but the inmate was still alive.

Dispatchers contacted Central Control to verify the request. Central Control staff said on a 9:07 p.m. recording that they had not called.

A first responder at the prison gate asked for help over the radio. A person outside identified as a state official demanded entry.

“Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it’s real and demanding us to go in,” the responder said. “They say they are some sort of state official. I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people.”

Central Control confirmed the emergency call was legitimate several minutes later. Responders entered the prison gates at about 9:11 p.m.

At least two additional calls were made. Attorney Kelly Gleason called 911 at 9:08 p.m. to request immediate aid.

“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 said.

Medics transported Pike to a hospital at 9:34 p.m. One responder asked dispatchers to confirm prison officials knew her destination.

“Just ’cause there’s been so much other confusion, I want to make sure they are aware of this,” the responder said.

Pike was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital. The state attempted to execute her for the 1995 torture and killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

Pike received a death sentence after the murder. She was 18 at the time.

Tennessee protocol requires a second dose of pentobarbital if the first dose fails. The protocol does not specify actions if an inmate survives both.

Pike spent several days on a ventilator. She regained consciousness the following Tuesday and began speaking and walking, her attorneys said.

She left the hospital and returned to the women’s prison on Saturday. She had been incarcerated there for 30 years.

Gov. Bill Lee paused executions during a state review in Nashville. Whether the state will attempt another execution is not known.

A department of emergency communications manages 911 calls and coordinates first responder dispatches. A maximum security prison operates central control rooms to monitor secure gates and direct emergency access.

Police said the original audio remained exempt from public disclosure under the law.