Confusion among prison officials after Christa Pike’s botched execution delayed help

Pike was discharged from the hospital and is back at the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years

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The emergency response for Christa Pike’s botched execution was delayed due to confusion between first responders and Tennessee prison officials, according to 911 dispatch recordings.

“Per supervisors here .... we have been informed it is a false call,” one unidentified person says at 9:03 p.m. “There is no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.”

Four minutes later, a responder said, “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.”

Pike survived Tennessee’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection and has been moved back to prison after being discharged from the hospital, her attorneys have said.

The 50-year-old was discharged from the hospital and is back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said in a statement.

“She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery,” her attorneys said on Saturday.

Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her by lethal injection on 30 September for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer.

Last week, medical experts told The Independent that Pike had no memory of the execution itself.