Emergency responders spent 26 minutes trying to verify a call for help from inside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after Christa Pike remained alive following two lethal injection doses.
The first call came about two hours after the lethal-injection process began Sept. 30.
The unidentified caller told the 911 dispatcher they were at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, according to a transcript provided by the Department of Emergency Communications Oct. 12.
Pike was still breathing.
The dispatcher verified the prison's address and immediately asked for a security code required to verify the call wasn't a prank.
Caller: "I'm sorry?"
Dispatcher: "What's your code?"
Caller: "My code? For reporting an emergency, or you do you [want to] know what
the emergency is?"
Dispatcher: "What's the code? For the location."
Caller: "I, I don't have a code."
Dispatcher: "You don't have a verification code?"
Caller: "I don't."
'How do they not have a code?'
Immediately after the initial call, one dispatcher called the Nashville Fire Department, and another called the Metro Nashville Police Department's West Precinct to inform them of the situation.
"They said they don't have a code," a dispatcher told a fire department official. "And It's for the woman who's supposed to be executed. But they said they don't have a code, so we're trying to figure out what's going on."
"How do they… how do they not have a code?" the fire department employee said.
"Right, they should know the code," the dispatcher said.
"Is there nobody there that knows the process?" the fire department employee said, adding that Riverbend is the "one place you definitely need a code."
Another dispatcher said the fire department responded to the prison but could not enter without the proper security code.
An MNPD sergeant said he would call the "guy over the prison" to see if they could "figure something out."
8:51 p.m.: Medics on the way
According to an audio recording of the radio feed from the night, medics reported they were on the way at 8:51 p.m.
A dispatcher responded within seconds that they got a call that there was an unconscious female patient in the execution chamber, saying, "They do not have codes to verify."
8:53 p.m.: Tennessee Highway Patrol notified
Tennessee Highway Patrol officers were stationed at the prison but not made aware of the need for medical help inside the execution chamber.
In an 8:53 p.m. call to the THP dispatch center, the Metro dispatcher opened by saying "I got a weird thing, are you ready?"
The dispatcher reported a call for help at Riverbend and said they are "trying to verify if y'all need us or not."
The THP dispatcher talked to his supervisor, then told the dispatcher they know nothing about it.
"We are trying to find out if that is an actual thing that's happening and we need to send an ambulance, and/or if you need police assistance, or if this is someone that is just basically prank calling, or swatting us," the dispatcher said.
8:56 p.m.: Medics don't have codes
On their way to the prison, medics called dispatchers to ask if the call for help had been verified yet. Dispatchers said it had not.
9 p.m.: 'We didn't call anybody'
Twenty minutes after the initial call for help, a dispatcher with Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications called TDOC's central control to try to verify the situation at 9 p.m.
"Um, who called you?" the TDOC employee said.
"Is there a supervisor I can speak with?" the dispatcher said. The TDOC staffer said "I guess" and transferred the call. It went to voicemail.
When that dispatcher called back, the TDOC employee told her she was "being told that nobody from our facility called you, so there's not really anything to speak of at the moment.
"We didn't call anybody," the TDOC employee said. "I would have been the one to call you guys."
The dispatcher reported to her supervisor that the prison actually didn’t need any help.
9:03 p.m.: Dispatcher tells medics it's a 'false call'
After 911 dispatchers heard from TDOC that there was no need for help, a dispatcher called medics on the radio and said they were informed it was a "false call."
9:06 p.m.: Code is provided for the first time
At 9:06 p.m., a TDOC official provided the code verifying the authenticity of the call to emergency responders — 26 minutes after the initial call for help.
9:07 p.m.: 'It's real'
At 9:07 p.m., a medic called dispatchers.
"Somebody is outside the gate at the prison, telling us... that it's real, and demanding us to go in," the medic said. "They say they are some sort of state official. But I need somebody from that prison to get out to the gate and talk to these people."
A dispatcher responded on the radio and told the medic that TDOC confirmed no help was needed. He seemed to be referring to the 9 p.m. call between Metro's DEC and TDOC central control. He said he would get back in touch with the prison to find out more.
9:08 p.m.: Christa Pike's attorney calls 911
Another call to 911 was made by a defense attorney who was offsite at the time.
"What's going on is my client Christa Gail Pike is undergoing a state execution," defense attorney Kelly Gleason said. "She has completed the stages of the protocol... She is still alive and breathing and needs lifesaving care."
The dispatcher told Gleason there was already a call out. She said the first responders need to be accompanied by THP, and that they were "working on it."
That call lasted four minutes and 42 seconds.
9:08:43 p.m.: Medics call in again
Medics called dispatchers again and said there was someone at the prison checkpoint demanding they go inside, but said they still needed an official to confirm they were allowed in without a police escort or verification codes.
9:10:59 p.m.: Dispatcher tells medics it's real
A dispatcher called medics and said TDOC central control confirmed the validity of the call for help. At 9:11, the ambulances were allowed into the prison.
9:11 p.m.: 'We need to send police hot'
During the final call of the night, which began at 9:11 p.m. and lasted three minutes and 20 seconds, a THP supervisor asked the DEC dispatcher if she was sure the call for help was verified and real.
"We need to send police hot because there is someone at the gate telling them this is real and they need to enter, but they can't enter without police because we never got codes. Can you send a trooper out there?", the dispatcher said.
"Who reported that to you guys?" the THP supervisor said. "Who confirmed it?"
The dispatcher repeated that there is someone at the gate telling them it's real and they need help.
"And just so you are aware, the defense attorney by the name of Kelly Gleason is calling us and asking us for an update," the dispatcher said. "So, it's escalating."
She explained the entire situation again, recapping the multiple calls for help DEC received.
At the end of the call, the THP supervisor said he will "let them know."
9:26 p.m.: Ambulances on the move
Emergency responders were on the way to a Nashville-area hospital at 9:26 p.m., according to the radio feed.
Evan Mealins contributed reporting.
Molly Davis covers growth and development in Nashville and assists with special projects. You can email her with comments, questions and tips at mmdavis@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Minute by minute: The 26-minute scramble after Christa Pike's execution went wrong
