Christa Pike (Photo: TN Department of Correction)
Newly released recordings show approximately a half-hour elapsed between the initial 911 call for help following the failed execution of Christa Pike and the time that prison officials verified the call, allowing first responders to go into the Tennessee prison.
Big picture view:
The recordings were released after a public records request by the Associated Press. They offer a glimpse into how the emergency medical response was delayed after Pike, 50, survived a second dose of pentobarbital.
Timeline:
The first 911 call was placed around 8:40 p.m. on September 30, and only a written transcript of that call was released. In it, the caller stated that they were at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution and Pike, whose scheduled execution began about an hour earlier, was unconscious and not breathing normally. The caller did not have a code that would verify the request for help from the prison.
At one point, at 9:03 p.m., a dispatcher responded, "Per supervisors here at DEC (Department of Emergency Communications), we have been informed that it is a false call. There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison."
According to the recordings, emergency responders working to determine if the call was real spoke to representatives of the prison’s Central Control around 9:07 p.m., and they indicated that they "would have been the ones to call in" and "did not make that call."
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The AP report goes on to quote a first responder who could be heard on the radio about the same time 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."
The call was confirmed by Central Control as legitimate minutes later, and emergency crews were able to get through the gates at 9:11 p.m. An AP reporter stated that an ambulance and fire truck arrived at 9:14 p.m. at the building where Pike was.
As Pike was being taken to an area hospital for treatment, a first responder seemed to acknowledge the communication difficulties, telling dispatch at 9:34 p.m., "Just ’cause there’s been so much other confusion, I want to make sure they are aware of this."
The backstory:
Pike, who was set to be executed for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer when she was 18 years old, was on a ventilator for several days after that. She regained consciousness last Tuesday, her attorneys said, adding that she has had limited speech and is walking with assistance. Pike has since been discharged and is back in prison.
Dig deeper:
The Associated Press reports that the Nashville Department of Emergency Communications released the recordings with some redactions. The police department indicated that the audio from the first 911 call was exempt from release, per state law.
Two other emergency calls were made, including one at 9:08 p.m., in which one of Pike’s attorneys, Kelly Gleason, was quoted as saying, "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."
The Source: Information for this article was taken from the Associated Press. This story was reported from Orlando.