Catherine Sweeney

Pike was given two rounds of lethal injection drugs, but when she survived, an hour and a half had passed before the death row inmate was taken to the hospital.

Catherine Sweeney of member station WPLN reports on 911 recordings, which are offering new details from that night.

No one has ever survived two rounds of lethal injection drugs, so Tennessee's execution protocols had no guidance.

Recordings obtained by WPLN depict a communication breakdown that found dispatchers trying to figure out if requests for help were prank calls.

Um, I'm being told that nobody from our facility called you.

Pike was eventually taken to a hospital and has since been released back to prison.

For NPR News, I'm Catherine Sweeney in Nashville.

Now to northwestern Pakistan, where rescuers are working to reach several children reported trapped beneath the rubble of a roof collapse.

That's what happened to Krista Pike on the night of September 30th.

WPLN's Catherine Sweeney witnessed the execution.

She tells us that newly released 911 recordings show it took over an hour for the prison system to get Pike emergency care after her failed execution.

Under Tennessee's lethal injection protocol, there's a five-minute waiting period after all the lethal drugs have been injected, and after that, a curtain closes over the witness bay, and the doctor comes out to certify death.

Their medical experts had predicted Pike's small, fragile veins would make it hard to administer the drugs into her properly, and failure was possible.

The concern was determined too speculative for the courts to act.

Catherine Sweeney, WPLN News.

Small businesses, even ones over 100 years old, are constantly combating Nashville's corporatization.

The Tennessee woman who survived a failed execution is now awake.

Reporter Catherine Sweeney of member station WPLN reports.

Christa Pike has been hospitalized since Wednesday.

That's when Tennessee tried and failed to put her to death for her role in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer.

They said she was handcuffed to her bed, even though her arms are covered in burns and blisters.

They attribute those injuries to bad IV placement during her attempted execution and say it's likely the pentobarbital intended to kill her flowed into her flesh instead of into her bloodstream.

For NPR News, I'm Catherine Sweeney in Nashville.

There are just four weeks to go until midterm election day.

The Tennessee woman who survived a failed execution is now awake.

Catherine Sweeney at member station WPLN gives us the latest.

Christa Pike has been hospitalized since Wednesday.

That's when Tennessee tried and failed to put her to death for her role in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer.

They said she was handcuffed to her bed, even though her arms are covered in burns and blisters.

They attribute those injuries to bad IV placement during her attempted execution and say it's likely the pentobarbital intended to kill her flowed into her flesh instead of into her bloodstream.

For NPR News, I'm Catherine Sweeney in Nashville.

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Yeah, there were m- m- media witnesses there, as is the, uh, procedure in the states that carry out the death penalty, and they gave their accounts of what they'd witnessed immediately after being asked to leave the witness room, the witness chamber, and I think it was then that they realized that the, the prisoner was being transferred to a hospital.

[traffic whooshing] Hi, I'm Catherine Sweeney.

I'm with WPLN.

Basically, all I have to say is they went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end.