THE BARE STORY
Emergency call records released Monday show delays and confusion in obtaining medical assistance after Christa Pike remained alive following a lethal injection attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Sept. 30.
An initial caller told dispatchers at about 8:40 p.m. that Pike had received 10 grams of pentobarbital about an hour earlier and had not died. Recordings show dispatchers and prison officials spent more than 30 minutes verifying the request and arranging access for emergency personnel. The prison’s central control initially said it had not made the call before later confirming the emergency, allowing responders to enter at about 9:11 p.m.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital administered during the attempt to execute her for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. She was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. Her attorneys said she later regained consciousness and was returned to prison after receiving treatment.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has not explained why the lethal injection did not result in Pike’s death. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the only person known to have survived an execution attempt in the United States.
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