On October 12, 2026, confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials led to a delayed emergency response for Christa Pike after a failed execution attempt. CBS News reported that 911 dispatch recordings, first obtained by The Associated Press, revealed that crucial minutes were lost as authorities tried to verify the legitimacy of a call for help.
At 8:40 p.m. on September 30, the first call to emergency services detailed that an execution had been carried out using 10 grams of pentobarbital, but the individual was still alive. An ambulance was requested. The dispatcher sought a verification code, which the caller could not provide.
Several calls ensued between the Nashville Department of Emergency Communications (DEC) and various agencies, including the Nashville Fire Department, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol Dispatch, and Tennessee Department of Correction Central Control. It took nearly 30 minutes before prison officials verified the emergency and allowed responders to access the prison.
“Per supervisors here at the DEC, we have been informed it is a false call,” an unidentified person stated at 9:03 p.m. Four minutes later, another responder indicated: “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.”
Central Control later confirmed the call was genuine, allowing responders entry at 9:11 p.m.
The Tennessee Department of Correction has yet to comment on the incident. Christa Pike, 50, survived after receiving two doses of pentobarbital. Originally sentenced for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, she was placed on a ventilator and her survival was uncertain. Pike has since recovered, has been discharged, and returned to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center.
Pike is noted as the only person known to have survived an execution attempt in the U.S. Lethal injection experts suspect a complication with the IV line may have hindered the drug’s administration into her bloodstream.
The Supreme Court had denied an eleventh-hour appeal to halt the execution. Pike’s scheduled execution marked an uncommon event, being the first woman in Tennessee set for execution since 1820. Future actions regarding Pike remain uncertain.