Emergency dispatchers in the US initially questioned whether a call reporting the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike was a prank, delaying medical assistance, according to a media report on Tuesday
The first 911 emergency call came around 8.40 pm on Sept. 30, about an hour after Pike's execution by lethal injection began at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, Fox News reported, citing call recordings.
The caller reported that Pike was alive and was having difficulty breathing but could not provide a code verifying the emergency.
A dispatcher questioned whether the report was genuine or a prank call. At 9.03 pm, another dispatcher said supervisors had determined the call was false and no medical assistance was needed.
Pike's attorney, Kelly Gleason, called 911 around 9.08 pm, explaining that her client had survived the execution procedure and urgently needed medical care.
Recordings also revealed confusion among prison personnel, who initially denied making an emergency call.
Separately, a first responder reported that a person identifying themselves as a state official was outside the prison gate, insisting the emergency was genuine.
Emergency personnel were eventually allowed into the prison, and Pike was transferred to a hospital.
Pike survived two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital and remained unconscious for six days before regaining consciousness on Oct. 6, according to her attorneys.
She returned to prison Oct. 10 for continued medical care.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has suspended additional executions pending a review of the failed procedure.
