The failed execution and the first call

Christa Pike, 50, was given two doses of pentobarbital at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, on 30 September 2026, but did not die. Her case is now described as the only known survival of a lethal injection execution attempt. Audio obtained by the Associated Press from the Nashville Department of Emergency Communications shows the first 911 call was placed at 8:40 pm local time, a little over an hour after the procedure began.

The caller, whose identity was removed from the released records, said an execution had been attempted and that the person was still alive. The dispatcher asked for a security code to verify the call, and the caller did not have one. Dispatchers then contacted the prison's central control, which initially said no such call had been made and that the call was a false alarm.

Confusion at the gates

While dispatchers tried to verify the call, an ambulance crew was already outside the prison and waiting, because staff would not let it in. One recording captures a responder saying someone at the gate insisted the emergency was real and claimed to be a state official. Prison officials confirmed the call was genuine at about 9:11 pm, roughly half an hour after the first call.

According to the released transcripts, the delay was partly caused by an apparent disconnect between prison staff and emergency call handlers. The Associated Press reported that prison protocols do not cover what to do if an inmate survives a lethal dose.

Attorney's plea and hospital transfer

Pike's attorney, Kelly Gleason, also called emergency services. In that call, Gleason said the client had completed all steps of the protocol, was still alive and breathing, and needed immediate medical care.

“She is still alive and breathing, she needs immediate life-saving care.”

At 9:34 pm, as medics were transporting Pike to hospital, one of them asked dispatch to make sure the prison knew where she was being taken. Pike was later discharged and returned to prison, where it is not clear what treatment she is receiving. Her legal team has said the drug probably spread under the skin rather than reaching her bloodstream in enough quantity to kill her, and described a "long road to recovery".

Reactions and what comes next

The Tennessee Department of Correction has not yet said what went wrong, according to the BBC. Colleen Slemmer's mother, who had pushed for the execution, called the failed attempt a "mess". Pike's co-defendant and then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, remains in prison after being spared the death penalty because he was a minor when the crime was committed.