911 dispatcher assumed Christa Pike's botched execution call was a prank, delaying care by HALF AN HOUR

From the Newshound archive · first published 14 October 2026.

Pike, 50, is the first death row inmate ever to survive two doses of pentobarbital, making a 'medically unprecedented' recovery after days on a ventilator.

A responder at the prison gate reported: 'Somebody is outside telling us it's real and demanding us to go in — I need somebody to talk to those people.'

As paramedics finally transported Pike to hospital at 9:34pm, one told dispatch: 'There's been so much other confusion, I want to make sure they are aware.'