Woman Found Dead In Airport Holding Cell

(AP)  A traveler who may have accidentally choked herself to death while handcuffed in an airport holding cell was a "wonderful" woman and mother, according to New York City's public advocate, who is her relative.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, was arrested Friday at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix after she became irate when gate crews refused to let her board a flight for which she was late, officials said.

"She was a wonderful mother; she was sweet and kind and loving," said public advocate Betsy Gotbaum, the woman's stepmother-in-law. "It's obviously very, very difficult for us; we are dealing with it as best we can. My No. 1 focus is those children and my stepson."

She also pleaded with the press for privacy.

The events that led to Gotbaum's death began when she became irate over not being allowed on a US Airways flight, though she was rebooked on a later flight, officials said.

Officers handcuffed her and took her to the holding room, where she kept screaming, authorities said. They checked on her when she became quiet and found her unresponsive, said Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill.

It appears Gotbaum may have tried to get out of her handcuffs, which ended up around her neck, Hill said. A medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

Neither a stun gun nor pepper spray was used on the woman, authorities said.

The New York City public advocate helps solve residents' problems with government and acts as a watchdog over city agencies.

[s1ckd09]

C''''mon folks! How can anyone possibly believe that she choked herself? And for those of you supporting the guards in this one ... what do you have to lose?? What kind of country do we live in now that throwing a temper tantrum is punishable by death? Have we thrown our constitution out of the window now that we have the Patriot Act? We all need to wake up and pay attention, or we will soon be living in the United States of Communists. I sincerely hope that her family pushes this loudly, into every news media available... sues to the full extent of the law, and sees the person or persons responsible through to the death penalty.

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Posted by lillyfly at 09:02 AM : Oct 01, 2007

I don''t see how some of you people function from day to day. You make the wild assumption that this woman was executed for throwing a temper tantrum, then you ask questions like your wild and baseless accusation is a fact. You assume people are guilty and want them sued and punished by the death penalty for doing something you''ve made up in your mind, and yet you are the one that thinks the Constitution is being ignored?
I don''t know how it''s possible that she could have choked herself, and I don''t pretend to know. I also don''t know what really happened and so I will stay impartial until more FACTS are found.

[redm4-2009]

justice for the Gotbaum family!!!stop the culprits before they can have another victim.If they succeed covering this up,their next victim might be your own!!!

[dminuteman]

Why didnt Harry Smith ask why it was necessary to keep the woman handcuffed after she was placed in the holding cell? Why wasnt she transported to the police station after being arrested? How long can a person be left in a holding cell before being book in and contact an attorney? What are the conditions in the holding cell, light?, Windows,a toilet, chair, water etc. Who authorized holding cells in Airports, hospitals.

[lillyfly]

C''mon folks! How can anyone possibly believe that she choked herself? And for those of you supporting the guards in this one ... what do you have to lose?? What kind of country do we live in now that throwing a temper tantrum is punishable by death? Have we thrown our constitution out of the window now that we have the Patriot Act? We all need to wake up and pay attention, or we will soon be living in the United States of Communists. I sincerely hope that her family pushes this loudly, into every news media available... sues to the full extent of the law, and sees the person or persons responsible through to the death penalty.

[prinzowhales]

In New York during the 9-11 commemorations this year a cameraman got separated from his group and came upon some of New York''s finest in kilts and drinking at some Scottish policeman''s function...they bumped jostled and harrassed the lad and hurled verbal abuse at him as he moved away.

These swine, like their compatriots who the firemen stopped from looting bodies after the WTC tragedy, also attacked and harrassed law-abiding citizens during the Republican Convention in New York. These, like the cowards who harassed, beat and then stuck a baton up the *** of a prisoner should have no place in public service. They pose a danger not only to themselves, but to their fellow officers as well.

We''ve seen the admitted actions of agents provacateurs in Canada where masked police circulated through a demonstration trying to provoke them to attack police--just as they did in Seattle. Its time to let the Regime and its minions know that the patience of America in wearing very thin with these kind of antics...the tasering murder of mental patients in wheelchairs of elementary school children who are ''out of control''...of naked accident victims with horrific burns on their bodies and obviously pose no threat.

[newsreader2]

Apparently she thought she was special.

[averjane]

Is it so hard to imagine that the truth could be that she''s not as sweet as her relatives portray her? Screaming until she stangled her fool self. Nuts. You just never know what will click in a person''s mind and make them loose it.

[MonsterSound]

Obviously she was a threat to America. The police/security are paid and therefore are professionals so an abuse of their authority is impossible because of their professionalism (see: tautology). South African police used to have that type of slander hurled at them when all those people kept throwing themselves down the police stairwells while in custody and dying just to make the police look bad. (sarcasm off, this is both sad and nuts)

[prinzowhales]

Here''s another theory...they used a choke hold on her, murdered her and invented this tale as a cover.

The police and rent-a-pig industry are getting completely out of hand in this country. Their numbers have sky-rocketed. And they have been more and more abusive to the public. The practice of hiring officers of sub-standard intelligence is now policy in many departments--like the military, they don''t want their officers to think, just do.

Of late, a school ''guard'' broke a little girl''s arm for improperly cleaning up her birthday cake that she dropped in a hallway after being jostled. Then the school/prison officials had her mother arrested when she complained and later the people who videotaped the crime were arrested as well.

A nineteen year old tired of being harrassed put videotaped a cop threatening to make up stuff to charge him with...the cop was fired and cops began staking out the kids house and there were suggestions that he be killed on a cop website in Missouri.

This has come with increased federal ''training'' and money. "protect and serve"--the motto, when I was a policeman thirty-some years ago has changed to "fear me and obey"--and to ''ell with that!

[dixxson-2009]

Clarence Thomas, the justice nobody
wants to know!
It was about the time that Uncle Clarence was inserted on the court that
you began to see change in our justice
system, people would say what''s wrong with our courts. They thought you could have over half the senate and the congress vote a known lie and politicize truth, and not have it effect our courts. People became meaner, mean spirited.
The people that say this woman brought this on herself were descent
back then. They change with the country, as it becomes meaner, so do they. Remember a few years ago an
american had a right to become irate,
and it did not warrant arrest, throwing
to the ground, and handcuffs.
Every person who supports police state tactics in a alledged democracy
should to show their conviction be
TASERED!