Released 911 calls reveal confusion after Christa Pike’s botched execution attempt

Recordings between ambulance crews and the jail suggest she wasn't immediately given care after she was found to still be alive.

WhatsAppEmailLink CopiedLinkCheckCircle Death row inmate Christa Pike was due to be executed last month in Tennessee. Picture: REUTERS By Flaminia Luck

Released 911 calls from Christa Pike's botched execution reveal confusion amongst emergency services after the two lethal injections the death row inmate was given failed.

The convicted murderer was due to be executed in Tennessee last month but survived. After being taken to a hospital, Pike was on a ventilator for several days. At one point, her attorneys did not expect her to survive.

Recordings between ambulance crews and the jail suggest she wasn't immediately given care after she was found to still be alive.

The recordings, obtained by the Associated Press, show officials trying to get more information about the incident.

It wasn’t until about half an hour after the initial call was made that the call was confirmed to be real and let responders through the gates.

Pike received the two doses on September 30 after being convicted of murdering her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in 1995.

The initial 911 call came in at 8:40 pm on September 30, just over an hour after the attempted lethal injection got underway.

However, the caller was unable to provide a code that would help verify the legitimacy of the request.“

Per supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) we have been informed it is a false call,” another dispatcher then says at 9:03pm.

“There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.”

It wasn’t until about half an hour after the initial call, nearer to 9:11 pm, that prison officials said it was real.

An AP reporter witnessed an ambulance and fire trucks pull up to the building inside the prison campus at 9:14 p.m.

At 9:34 pm, as medics were transporting Pike to a hospital, one asked dispatch to make sure the prison knew where they were taking her.

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

Pike regained consciousness last Tuesday and began talking limitedly and walking with assistance, her lawyers said.

She reportedly awoke in hospital this week "angry and confused".

When she first regained consciousness, she asked: "Where am I and who are you?”, her lawyers said.

Her lawyers had previously feared she could be brain-dead, with her recovery shocking both them and medical experts.

Read more: Christa Pike 'now walking' after botched execution in US

Read more: 'Where am I and who are you?': Convicted killer Christa Pike wakes up with 'no memory' of botched execution