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Released 911 recordings show delayed emergency response after Christa Pike's failed execution
Newly released 911 dispatch recordings show that emergency assistance for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike was delayed after her lethal injection failed on September 30. The first call was placed at 8:40 p.m. from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, just over an hour after the execution attempt began. The caller reported that Pike had received two doses of the sedative pentobarbital, remained alive, was unconscious, and was breathing slowly and with difficulty. The caller requested an ambulance but could not provide the verification code normally required to authorize emergency access to the prison. The confusion caused dispatchers and prison officials to question whether the emergency call was genuine. At 9:03 p.m., a dispatcher said supervisors had been told it was a false call and that no medical assistance was needed at Riverbend Prison. Minutes later, responders outside the facility said someone was insisting the emergency was real and demanding entry. Prison officials did not confirm the call's legitimacy until about 9:11 p.m., roughly half an hour after the initial call, allowing emergency personnel through the gates. Pike's attorney, Kelly Gleason, also called 911 at 9:08 p.m. to request immediate life-saving care. The recordings, released with some redactions by Nashville's Department of Emergency Communications, have intensified scrutiny of Tennessee's execution procedures. Pike survived the failed execution and was later hospitalized; the incident has prompted broader questions about how the state handles medical emergencies during executions.