Home · Politics · Oct 13 archive
Dispatchers Initially Thought Pike's Botched Execution Was a Prank
Confirmed
In Short: Dispatchers initially thought Christa Pike's botched execution was a prank call before confirming the emergency.
An initial 911 call came through to dispatchers around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, roughly an hour after Pike’s planned execution began.
Dispatchers initially believed the call was a prank, with one dispatcher stating, “Per supervisors here at the DEC, we have been informed it is a false call,” at approximately 9:03 p.m.
During the call, the unidentified caller informed operators of a failed execution but was unable to provide a code that would verify the legitimacy of the call.
Pike was in an ambulance and being transferred to a hospital by 9:34 p.m., according to the AP.
Dispatchers worked for around 20 minutes trying to verify the legitimacy of the call, with one dispatcher asking, “Is it like a sergeant that I could speak with? Or a supervisor?”
Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital, the drug used in lethal injections that typically results in death within 15 to 30 minutes.
Pike was taken to a hospital where she was placed on a ventilator and remained unconscious for six days, waking up on Oct. 6, according to her attorneys.
Prison officials didn’t confirm the call for help was legitimate until 9:11 p.m., the call logs show.
Pike regained consciousness, began talking and walking with assistance, was discharged from the hospital, and returned to the prison where she had been held for 30 years.
Dispatchers were later told no medical assistance was needed at Riverbend Prison.
Pike's attorneys said in a statement, “She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.”
What this adds
Dispatchers initially thought Christa Pike's botched execution was a prank call before confirming the emergency.
Pike was discharged from the hospital and returned to prison after surviving the botched lethal injection attempt.
Background
Dispatchers initially believed Christa Pike's botched execution was a prank call before confirming the emergency.
Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate, has been discharged from the hospital and returned to prison after surviving a botched lethal injection attempt on September 30, her lawyers said on Saturday.
What's confirmed
- An initial 911 call came through to dispatchers around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, roughly an hour after Pike’s planned execution began.
- “Per supervisors here at the DEC [Department of Emergency Communications], we have been informed it is a false call,” a dispatcher can be heard saying at approximately 9:03 p.m.
- “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 can be heard saying during a phone call timestamped at approximately 9:08 p.m.
- Pike was in an ambulance and being transferred to a hospital by 9:34 p.m., the AP reported.
- Following that call, operators sought to determine the authenticity, the audio shows.
- During the call, the unidentified caller informed operators of a failed execution but was unable to provide the operators with a code that would verify the legitimacy of the call.
- “There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.” The first 911 call occurred at 8:40 p.m., and dispatchers worked for around 20 minutes trying to verify that the request was legitimate, according to the News & Observer.
- Convicted killer Christa Gail Pike listens to proceedings on April 2008 in Knox County Criminal Court in a bid for a new trial in the 1995 killing of fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect) "So we have a medical call for service at the Riverbend Prison," a dispatcher says in the AP-obtained audio.
- Pike was taken to a hospital where she was placed on a ventilator and remained unconscious for six days, waking up on Oct. 6, according to her attorneys.
- "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," the operator can be heard saying.
- The caller claims that Pike, 50, was given “10 grams of pentobarbital” as part of an execution but requested an ambulance because “the person is not yet deceased.” The caller was unable to provide a verification code to confirm it was genuine, and the dispatcher eventually called the Tennessee Department of Correction Central Control at 8:49 p.m.
- Pike was strapped to a gurney in the death chamber for about an hour as medical staff jabbed her with at least seven needles, one of which bent a full 90-degrees when it came out of her arm, her attorney Randy Spivey said.
What's still developing
- Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her fellow Knoxville Job Corps Center student, Colleen Slemmer.
- Download the Straight Arrow app today to get the stories that matter free from manipulation, bias or agenda.™ Dispatchers were later told no medical assistance was needed.
- In a statement on the night of the execution attempt, TDOC said it followed every step of the state’s protocol, described the drug as consistently effective and said the protocol did not allow additional procedures beyond those carried out.
- Gov. Bill Lee paused further execution attempts pending a review.
- After Pike’s execution, Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee paused all executions in the state through the end of the year and ordered an investigation into the failed execution.
- Pike suspected Slemmer was romantically interested in her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.
- Metro Nashville Emergency Communications received the first call from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution at 8:40 p.m., just over an hour after the lethal injection began.
- RELATED COVERAGE | Christa Pike discharged from hospital, attorneys say One of two later emergency calls came from Pike’s attorney, Kelly Gleason, at about 9:08 p.m.
- “Who called you. Do you know?” the employee said.