Death row inmate Christa Pike was set to be executed on Wednesday, September 30. But after a shocking turn of events, she survived two lethal injections and was rushed to a hospital. Before that, she uttered nine chilling words describing what the injection felt like in her body.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. After 30 years on death row, she was set to die on September 30.
The process was delayed for hours after a federal appeals court temporarily halted the execution. The U.S. Supreme Court later lifted the stay, allowing Tennessee officials to proceed.
But despite officials going through with the planned protocol, Pike survived two lethal injections and was later taken to a hospital by ambulance. One of her attorneys told BBC News that she was being given ”life-saving measures.”
Christa Pike’s execution
Before Christa was injected, she said: “I’m going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life,” according to the site Nashville Banner, “and that is with love.”
Kim Chandler of AP, who witnessed the execution, reported: “She said she had love for the people who were out here hating on her,” according to Tennessee Lookout.
“She closed her statement with saying, ‘I’m at peace. I’m ready to be free,’ then something about celebrating her freedom, and then she closed with, ‘This is a happy day,’” Chandler said.
After being injected with the first dose, Tori Gessner with WKRN News 2 in Nashville reported that at 7:34 p.m., Pike said: “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
“Does it happen like that?” she asked her spiritual advisor, Rev. Mikey Noechel, according to Nashville Banner.
“Relax,” he responded.
“I’m trying,” she then said.
Will Puckett of WVLT Knoxville described how she was “blinking, smiling,” and letting out “a couple of laughs during this process,” according to Tennessee Lookout.
“I saw a tear roll down (from) her right eye, and then she said, ‘one spot is really throbbing.’”
Survived two lethal injections
Soon thereafter, she went quiet and took bigger breaths before lifting her head up. According to Puckett, she “was kicking her feet so often that she was actually knocking the sheet that laid over her off.”
At 9:28 p.m., after two failed lethal injections, she left the prison in an ambulance, according to the Nashville Banner.
After 11 p.m., TDOC emailed the following statement: “The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office. The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”
Had the execution succeeded, the 50-year-old Christa Pike would have become the first woman to be executed in the state of Tennessee in 200 years.
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