Ambulance and emergency services teams waited about half an hour outside the gates of the Riverbend prison in Nashville after receiving a report that Christa Pike had survived an attempted execution. The reason for the delay was that the call was initially considered a possible false alarm.
The first 911 call was made at 8:40 p.m. local time on September 30. “We are performing an execution tonight. We gave 10 grams of pentobarbital. The person is not dead yet. "We started about an hour ago and we're calling for an ambulance," the caller said, according to the released recording and transcript.
The dispatcher asked the prison officer for a confirmation code, but none was provided. Conversations ensued between the Nashville Department of Emergency Communications, the fire department, the police, the state highway patrol and the Tennessee Prisons Central Control.
Confusion at the gate
At 9:03 p.m., an unidentified officer said emergency services had been informed that the call was a hoax and that medical assistance was not needed. Four minutes later, another officer reported that a person at the gate was insisting that the incident was real and wanted the crews to be let through.
In a conversation recorded at 9:07 p.m., the prison's central control said that they were the ones who should have made the call, but they did not. A few minutes later, however, the control confirmed that the call was genuine. Access was granted at 9:11 p.m., and according to the Associated Press, ambulances and fire trucks arrived inside the prison complex at 9:14 p.m.
Pike returned to prison
Pike, who is 50, was admitted to the hospital after being given two doses of pentobarbital. According to CBS News, she was initially placed on a ventilator, but later regained consciousness, began to speak and was discharged. She was then returned to the women's prison where she had been held for 30 years.
Tennessee authorities have not yet announced what exactly caused the failed execution. Among the possibilities discussed by medical and expert circles is a problem with the intravenous line, but this has not been officially confirmed. It is also unclear whether a new attempt to carry out the death sentence will be scheduled.
Sources: focus-news.net, cbsnews.com, apnews.com