Christa Pike to Tony Carruthers: People who survived lethal injections during execution

Christa Pike survived her execution by lethal injection in Tennessee and is now reportedly being taken to the hospital. The 50-year-old has been on death row for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer.

Christa Pike who was set to be executed for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, survived the lethal injection. (X/@MorbidKnowledge)Pike's execution was briefly halted by a federal court as her lawyers mounted a last ditch effort, pointing to the sexual abuse she'd faced as a child. However, the Supreme Court overturned the decision.

Pike's lawyers said she had been administered two syringes of the execution drug pentobarbital but remained alive. ""Ms Pike has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring," they wrote, as per ABC.

Associated Press journalist Kim Chandler told the media “I would say that Pike appeared noticeably awake as the execution began,” and added “The blinds were closed for the first time to the execution chamber at 7:46pm, they opened again at 7:49pm.”

She also shared “Her mouth fell open a few times and she began to loudly snore. She gasped a few times,” speaking of Pike. “The curtain to the execution chamber closed for the final time at 8:06pm and she could be heard loudly snoring, clearly very alive, in the chamber until media witnesses were told to leave the area at about 8:53pm,” the journalist added.

Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More