Tuesday, October 13, 2026·Focal News

The Nashville Focal

Nashville's independent voice

Local

Tennessee releases written account of 911 call after Christa Pike execution attempt

Emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from Riverbend prison at 8:40 p.m. Sept. 30, hours after courts cleared the way for Christa Pike’s execution to proceed. The original audio is being withheld, but state officials released a written account based on their review of the call.

Tennessee releases written account of 911 call after Christa Pike execution attempt
Tennessee officials have released a written account of the 911 call made from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after an attempt to execute Christa Pike failed on Sept. 30. The state’s emergency communications department said it received the call at 8:40 p.m. Central time. The Nashville Department of Emergency Communications said Metro Legal determined the original recording is exempt from public disclosure under Tennessee law. The department released a written account prepared after reviewing the audio, saying it was making a good-faith effort to provide information despite the exemption. Pike’s execution had been scheduled for that morning. A federal appeals court temporarily halted it so she could challenge the legality of her sentence, but the U.S. Supreme Court later lifted the pause in a 6-3 decision. During the procedure, the state administered two doses of pentobarbital. Pike survived and was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Pike’s attorneys said she was unconscious and on a ventilator. They later reported that medical staff believed she was brain dead before she regained consciousness the following morning. Her attorneys said she was discharged from the hospital and returned to the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. The release of the dispatch account adds to public scrutiny of the failed execution and the state’s lethal-injection process.

More from The Nashville Focal