911 Records Reveal Confusion After Christa Pike's Botched Execution
Newly released 911 records show that emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed by about half an hour after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her, as dispatchers struggled to confirm whether the call was real.
Nashville's Department of Emergency Communications released the 911 dispatch records on Monday, after The Associated Press first obtained them, offering a new look at the confusion that unfolded at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on the night of September 30.
A Call Dispatchers Questioned
The first 911 call came in at 8:40 p.m. The caller said the state had given 10 grams of pentobarbital, that the person was not yet dead and that an ambulance was needed, CBS News reported.
The dispatcher asked the caller for a verification code. The caller did not have one.
At 9:03 p.m., someone told dispatch supervisors that the call was false and that no medical help was needed at the prison. A few minutes later, at 9:07 p.m., the prison's Central Control said it "would have been the ones to call in and they did not make that call."
The situation shifted moments later, when a responder reported that a person outside the prison gate who claimed to be a state official said the call was real. Central Control then confirmed the request was legitimate, and responders were cleared to enter at 9:11 p.m., about 30 minutes after the first call.
Audio Withheld, Transcript Released
City lawyers determined that the original audio of the 911 call is exempt from public release under Tennessee law. Instead, the emergency communications department prepared a written account of the call based on the recording.
A spokesperson for the department said the agency made a "good-faith effort" to provide information to the public, WSMV reported.
Pike's Survival Stunned the Nation
Pike, 50, was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
The execution moved forward after a dramatic day of legal battles. A federal appeals court had paused the execution earlier that day, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that evening that it could proceed.
Pike then survived two doses of pentobarbital. She was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator, and her attorneys did not expect her to live. She later regained consciousness, began talking and was able to walk with help.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the only known person to survive an execution attempt in the U.S.
Her attorney Randy Spivey has said he cannot explain her sudden improvement. "I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning," he said. Spivey added that Pike faces a long road to recovery. She was discharged from the hospital on Saturday and returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she had been held for about 30 years.
Questions Remain
The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong. Experts have focused on whether a problem with Pike's IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream.
The fallout has been swift. Gov. Bill Lee called off the state's remaining executions for the year while an outside review is conducted, and Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada announced he would resign at the end of October.
It remains unclear what will happen to Pike next, or whether Tennessee will try to carry out her execution again.
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