{"id":305318,"date":"2026-10-12T22:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T22:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305318\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T22:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T22:10:57","slug":"emergency-help-was-delayed-by-confusion-after-failed-execution-of-christa-pike-911-calls-reveal-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/305318\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency help was delayed by confusion after failed execution of Christa Pike, 911 calls reveal | Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Emergency help for Christa Pike<\/a> was delayed by confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials following her failed lethal injection last month, according to 911 dispatch recordings reviewed by The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The recordings show that precious minutes elapsed as officials and responders tried to figure out whether a request for emergency help in the execution chamber was legitimate. The first call came in at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, and it was about a half an hour before prison officials affirmed it was legitimate and began letting responders through the prison gates.<\/p>\n

\u201cPer supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) we have been informed it is a false call,\u201d one unidentified person says at 9:03 p.m. \u201cThere is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four minutes later, a responder reported: \u201cSomebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 9:11 p.m. that prison officials affirmed the call for help was legitimate, the calls show.<\/p>\n

Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses<\/a> of pentobarbital<\/a> as the state attempted to execute her for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. At one point, Pike was on a ventilator and her attorneys did not expect her to survive. However, they said Pike woke up and began talking and walking with assistance, and she has since been discharged and is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women\u2019s prison where she was housed for 30 years.<\/p>\n

The Tennessee Department of Correction has not said what went wrong in the attempted execution. Medical and lethal injection experts have focused on whether a problem with the IV line caused the drug to pool in her tissue instead of entering her bloodstream.<\/p>\n

Johnson reported from Seattle and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed by confusion among first responders and Tennessee…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,15820,125312,31,38,903,503,44,109],"class_list":["post-305318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-capital-punishment","tag-christa-pike-failed-execution-911-call","tag-crime","tag-general-news","tag-prisons","tag-technology","tag-u-s-news","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}