911 operators questioned whether Christa Pike failed execution call was prank, audio reveals

Fox News · Robert McGreevy · 2026-10-13 14:42 UTC

911 audio reveals dispatchers initially dismissed Christa Pike's failed execution as a prank call, delaying the ambulance response to Riverbend Prison.

911 dispatch recordings show a series of miscommunications led to delayed emergency response in the immediate aftermath of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike.

An initial 911 call came through to dispatchers around 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, roughly an hour after Pike’s planned execution began, according to documents and audio recordings obtained by Fox News.

During the call, the unidentified caller informed operators of a failed execution but was unable to provide the operators with a code that would verify the legitimacy of the call.

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