Video 911 dispatch audio from Christa Pike's failed execution shows chaos, confusion delayed emergency response 911 dispatch audio obtained by the Associated Press shows emergency responders first trying to determine if a 911 call describing Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike's failed execution was a prank. Credit: The Associated Press.
911 dispatch recordings show a series of miscommunications led to delayed emergency response in the immediate aftermath of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike.
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, according to the Associated Press (AP).
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.
Following that call, operators sought to determine the authenticity, audio shows.
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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.
The dispatcher explains to another operator that the caller said "they carried out the execution, the subject didn’t pass away and they need an ambulance because she’s not breathing normally."
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"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.
In another snippet of internal dispatcher audio, an operator can be heard calling off the emergency response.
Emergency vehicles arrive at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
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"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. "There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison."
An additional correspondence between an operator and what appears to be somebody working at Riverbend Prison displayed further confusion.
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"We got a call about a failed execution at your guys’ facility and we’re just calling to verify," a dispatcher said.
"Um… who called you?" the prison employee responded.
"Is there like a sergeant I could speak with, or a supervisor?" the dispatcher asked.
"No, we don’t exactly know," the dispatcher replied.
"I’m being told nobody from our facility called you, so there’s not really anything to speak of at the moment," the employee said.
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An execution gurney is shown alongside a Tennessee Department of Correction booking photo of death row inmate Christa Pike, whose attorneys filed an emergency motion seeking to preserve evidence after the state's failed execution attempt. (Greg Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images ; Tennessee Department of Correction via AP)
Pike’s attorney Kelly Gleason also called 911 to report the botched execution, audio recordings prove.
"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.
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Around the same time as Gleason’s call, Riverbend Prison’s Central Control told emergency responders that they "would have been the ones to call in" but that they "did not make that call," according to the AP.
But also around that time, a first responder can be heard on a separate recording saying "Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it’s real and demanding us to go in. They say they are some sort of state official. I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people."
At that point, Central Control cleared the way for first responders to enter the prison at 9:11 p.m.
Media witnesses leave Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Christa Pike was halted Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Pike was on an ambulance and being transferred to a hospital by 9:34 p.m., the AP reported.
Pike was convicted of First Degree Murder and Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder in 1996 for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was sentenced to death and had been on death row for over 30 years when she arrived at her scheduled execution by lethal injection on Sept. 30.
Prison execution authorities administered a single dose of pentobarbital, a central nervous system depressant used in Tennessee execution protocol. When Pike remained conscious after the initial dose, authorities administered a second dose per state protocol.
When the second dose did not kill Pike, Tennessee’s single-drug execution protocol prevented authorities from administering a third dose.
Christa Gail Pike is seen during her trial for the murder of Colleen A. Slemmer March 18, 1996, in Knox County Criminal Court. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
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.
Pike was taken back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center women’s prison on Oct. 10 where she is continuing to receive medical care, her attorneys said in a statement.
Following the failed execution, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has paused all state executions pending a further review.
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Fox News Digital contacted the Tennessee Department of Correction and Pike’s attorneys for comment.
