Woman died at airport on way to rehab

[Marnie]

A woman who died after being handcuffed and detained at the Phoenix airport was on her way to an alcohol rehabilitation program in Tucson, her family said Monday, accusing police of manhandling her during the ordeal.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, was late for a flight Friday and became angry when a gate crew didn't let her on the plane. Officers handcuffed her behind her back and took her to a holding room, where she kept screaming, authorities said.

A Gotbaum family representative will be present at an autopsy on Tuesday, said their attorney, Michael Manning.

"She was a loving and devoted mother of three children under the age of nine who was on her way to an alcohol rehabilitation facility to seek treatment," Betsy Gotbaum, the victim's stepmother-in-law, said in a statement.

Carol Gotbaum "appears to have been manhandled by the Phoenix Police Department," said Gotbaum, New York City's public advocate. "She cried out for help at the airport, but her pleas appear to have been met by mistreatment."

"We are not jumping to any conclusions, but the circumstances surrounding Carol's death appear to be unusual enough to raise serious questions and warrant a thorough investigation," Betsy Gotbaum said.

Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said officers checked on Gotbaum regularly while she was detained. During one of the checks, officers found Gotbaum unconscious with her hands "pressed against her neck area," Hill said.

In a statement released later Monday, Hill said Gotbaum had been shackled to a bench as well as being handcuffed. The shackle's chain ran from an eyehook and the other was connected to the chain on Gotbaum's handcuffs.

Hill said officers followed established policy while detaining Carol Gotbaum. He added that police procedures for arresting someone at the airport haven't changed since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"Everything, so far that we know, is according to policy," Hill said.

Manning, who was hired by Gotbaum's family to monitor the police investigation, said it doesn't seem possible she could have killed herself.

"It doesn't make any sense," he said. "She was handcuffed behind her back and shackled to a table. It doesn't make sense that she could have physically managed to strangle herself."

Manning, a high-profile lawyer who represented the government against failed savings and loan executive Charles Keating, has previously won settlements against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in wrongful-death lawsuits.

He said the family hasn't decided whether it should file a lawsuit against Phoenix police.

"We're not going to jump to any conclusions without any evidence," he said. "We want to see what the autopsy reveals. We want to see what exactly happened to her."

YAHOO

[buckthesystem]

I am not assuming that the worst has happened either. But this woman has clearly died under "strange" circumstances while in police custody. If she was handcuffed and shackled to a bench with the shacke attached to the handcuff chain, it is impossible that she strangled herself. Is this the assertion being made? Or suggested anyway? It is utterly ludicrous.

If it is found that she died from being manhandled by the police, will there actually be any accountability? Another thing that puzzles me is the term "wrongful death". That makes it sound so "accidental". Shouldn't a death under circumstances like "a death in police custody where no one person is clearly culpable" be "manslaughter" or "murder in the second degree" or what ever the American term?

[Guest]

Until the evidence is in, all we can do is wait to see how the autopsy/investigation goes. Doesn't look good for someone to die in Police custody anywhere.

The only problems is that I see lawyers circling like sharks sniffing blood in the water...................

[Guest]

[boblandis]

Somthing definately smells fishy in Phoenix.

[ayin jade]

I live in Phoenix. She struggled with her handcuffs. She was acting wild before they arrested her. She seemed to be in a drug rage from what the reports state. She was not manhandled. She was not the sweet innocent creature the lawyer is portraying either.

[ayin jade]

Carol Gotbaum died Friday after a dramatic confrontation with airline officials and police at Terminal 4. She was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, because she was running and screaming through the terminal after she missed her flight to Tucson, police said. She planned to check herself into an alcohol-rehabilitation program there.

Gotbaum was handcuffed and shackled to a bench in an airport holding room. She was later found dead.

Police suspect that she may have strangled herself by trying to wriggle free from her restraints.

Gotbaum comes from a wealthy, politically connected family.

From a local newspaper article about her.

Officers handcuffed Gotbaum behind her back, shackled her to a bench, and left her alone in a detention room. Police said she was later found unconscious and not breathing with the chain from the shackle pulled against the front of her neck. It appeared that Gotbaum got tangled as she tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, police said.

"There are ligature marks, and some of those ligature marks match the chain that they used to chain her to the bench," Manning said, quoting the private investigator.

From a local tv stations website.

There were many witnesses who saw her run screaming through the airport. Yet the family who is proclaiming police brutality also says she would never do something like this. It is clear that she ran screaming through the airport. In a few weeks the toxicology reports come back. It will be interesting to see if drugs were present in her body at the time. The Phoenix police have a good reputation and do not mishandle suspects.

[buckthesystem]

I live in Phoenix. She struggled with her handcuffs. She was acting wild before they arrested her. She seemed to be in a drug rage from what the reports state. She was not manhandled. She was not the sweet innocent creature the lawyer is portraying either.

Yes but that does not explain how she died. "Struggling with handcuffs" does not usually kill someone.

As for "she was not manhandled". I find that hard to accept. Not very many people would calmly let themselves be handcuffed and shacked and chained to a bench, and if she was "acting wild before they arrested her", it makes this even more unlikely.

So if she was actually "not the sweet innocent creature the lawyer is portraying", does this mean that she deserved to die?

[peaches]

So if she was actually "not the sweet innocent creature the lawyer is portraying", does this mean that she deserved to die?

it means she was not completely innocent in all of this. its being made to sound like she did absolutely nothing wrong and it was ALL on the cops, which might not be the case.

[nebula]

Yes but that does not explain how she died. "Struggling with handcuffs" does not usually kill someone.

"Not usually" leaves room for "unusually, it does." Correct?

As for "she was not manhandled". I find that hard to accept. Not very many people would calmly let themselves be handcuffed and shacked and chained to a bench, and if she was "acting wild before they arrested her", it makes this even more unlikely.

Did the report say she "calmly let herself be handcuffed?"

So if she was actually "not the sweet innocent creature the lawyer is portraying", does this mean that she deserved to die?

No one said anything about her deserving to die. The question is over whether or not the police are to blame for her death, or was her death self-inflicted.