Airport Victim's Family Wants Answers

Lawyer Claims Mother Of 3 Was "Manhandled" By Police; Family Sends Representative To Autopsy

(CBS/AP)  The woman who died in police custody after being detained at the Phoenix airport was looking for a place to heal. Now, her politically-connected family is looking for justice.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, was a mother of three young children, and well-educated, with a masters degree received in South Africa, where she grew up, reports CBS News Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor. She was on her way to an alcohol rehabilitation center in Tucson, Ariz., when officers arrested her for disorderly conduct. Police said she was late for a flight and became angry when a gate crew didn't let her on the plane. Witnesses told police she was yelling and running throughout the terminal.

As police moved in, airport workers reportedly heard Gotbaum yell, "I'm not a terrorist. I'm a sick mom. I need help."

Officers handcuffed her behind her back and took her to a holding room without a surveillance camera, where she kept screaming, authorities said.

After about five to 10 minutes, officers no longer could hear her voice and went to check. Gotbaum was found unconscious with her hands "pressed against her neck area," police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said.

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

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

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

"The autopsy is going to need to be done to confirm there was a compressive force to neck and that the cause of death is asphyxiation. It is also going to need to exclude that drugs or alcohol played a role or she had some unknown natural disease which played a role," forensic pathologist Daniel J. Spitz said on CBS News' The Early Show.

"If this is an asphyxiation, it's because of that other chain which was obviously long enough or could have been long enough to allow a compressive force to her neck," Spitz said.

Spitz is Chief Medical Examiner of Macomb and St. Clair Counties in Michigan, and is not connected with the Gotbaum case.

Manning plans to send a representative to watch the county medical examiner's autopsy of Gotbaum's body Tuesday. He'll conduct his own inquiry as to whether police followed proper procedure.

Manning, a high-profile lawyer who represented the government against failed savings and loan executive Charles Keating, has previously won settlements against Sheriff Joe Arpaio in wrongful-death lawsuits. He said the family hasn't decided whether it should file a lawsuit against Phoenix police.

"Under police procedure you don't treat an emotionally distraught person or even an intoxicated person by handcuffing and shackling them. You get them help," Manning told CBS News. "So we're disappointed that this happened to her. We want to find out why."

Phoenix Police Department Professional Standards Bureau also is conducting an investigation, a standard procedure following an in-custody death.

Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said officers followed established policy while detaining Gotbaum. Police also said their 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.

"Carol was a wonderful, wonderful person. she was a wonderful mother. she was sweet and kind and loving," Betsy Gotbaum told reporters. She was just five foot seven and just 105 pounds, her stepmother-in-law said.

David Boyer, acting director of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office, said he didn't have a problem if Gotbaum's family sends someone to the autopsy. Boyer said family members will occasionally ask to have someone present.

Boyer said the autopsy should be complete within a few weeks.

New York City's Public Advocate is an independently elected citywide official, next in line to the mayor, who handles public complaints about the city and its agencies.

Betsy Gotbaum, who may be a candidate for New York City mayor in 2009, earlier served as the city's commissioner of parks and recreation. Her husband Victor Gotbaum is a long-time municipal labor leader and a former member of the city Board of Education.

[formrusmcsgt]

While answers need to be given to the family, I think some questions need to be posed to them as well.

For example, why was this obviously unstable individual traveling alone to begin with?

[shanev137]

According to the NY Daily Times website, a family friend was suppose to meet her in Phoenix after she got off her connecting flight, but never showed up.

[dragonmouse-2009]

Surly they have cameras in the airports to monitor situations...I agree with the previous poster why would the family allow a unstable individual to travel alone?

I''m at a loss in what the airport was supposed to do with a person who was obviously out of control...give them a cookie and sing kum-by-yah???

I''m quite certian she had several warnings BEFORE she was handcuffed. Good grief...it''s only been six years since we''ve been clamping down on airport behavior. Why do people still do this?

[dogsoul]

"Under police procedure you don''t treat an emotionally distraught person or even an intoxicated person by handcuffing and shackling them. You get them help,"

Um.... huh? Ya know, THAT seems like PRECISELY the kind of person you handcuff & shackle, the emotionally distraught and/or intoxicated person... one that''s running around yelling acting crazy etc...

Look, obviously she had problems - most anyone requiring arrest DOES have problems - the question is, did the airport security and/or cops do anything wrong? Sure, people will assign all sorts of blame in hindsight - but DID they or did they NOT take reasonable actions under those circumstances? Barring any kind of conspiracy theory... if all they did was cuff & shackle a crazy woman & toss her in a cell and somehow she managed to kill herself, even by some freak accident - I say they''re off the hook...

[shanev137]

I''''m at a loss in what the airport was supposed to do with a person who was obviously out of control...give them a cookie and sing kum-by-yah???
----------

The proper procedure in most major airports in dealing with people who are obviously mentally ill is to err on the side of medical caution and call the paramedics at the same time they are arrested. They should not have left a mentally whacked-out person alone in a cell, with no camera and handcuffed to a bench with 2 extra feet of chain to play with, without constant surveillance until the paramedics got there to check her out.....especially after she was screaming "HELP ME, HELP ME, I''M A SICK MOM AND I NEED HELP, I''M NOT A TERRORIST".

This is really a no-brainer. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the Mexican hater, will get sued for wrongful death on this one big time and will lose....guaranteed.

[dogsoul]

"I''''m at a loss in what the airport was supposed to do with a person who was obviously out of control...give them a cookie and sing kum-by-yah???I''''m quite certian she had several warnings BEFORE she was handcuffed."

Well said - just how exactly WERE they supposed to have responded to a raving madwoman who wouldn''t back down?

[connapa]

Being chemically dependent does not make you either insane or unstable. If she was on her way to rehab, she would have the right to get distraught at missing her flight. If she did not get to the treatment center by a certain time, she would likely lose her bed and where would that have left her? If she was also in need of a medical detox, missing her flight would result in two outcomes. First, she would start withdrawing without proper medication which could put her life in jeopardy. Or she would have to continue drinking in order to prevent withdrawl, at which point, she might get too intoxicated and miss her flight yet again. Either way, it was dammed if you do, dammed if you dont'' for her. Her very life was on the line, and she was aware of that, hence her reaction to missing her flight. Only those who have personally struggled with addiction can even begin to relate to how she felt at that moment. She was afraid of dying from her disease. Unfortunately, through a bizarre chain of events, she did die as a result of it

[dogsoul]

"Her very life was on the line, and she was aware of that, hence her reaction to missing her flight. "

Oh please... get me on this flight or I''m going to die from withdrawl??? You''re grasping at straws there... I''ll grant you that her addiction most certainly weighed into her acting like a crazy woman - but the idea that she was merely acting normal given some life or death situation hinging on making that particular flight is just ridiculous...

Anyone think she may have purposely used the longer chain to kill herself???

[anonymous010]

Posted by connapa at 09:48 AM : Oct 02, 2007:
Unfortunately, through a bizarre chain of events, she did die as a result of it

No pun intended, right connapa?

In any event, there''s just not enough evidence yet to make a determination as to whether this was police mistreatment, accidental death, or suicide, etc. Hopefully, the autopsy will reveal some answers for the family.

[missingamerica]

I''m at a loss as to why that airport has unmonitored holding cells. Is there also a judge holding court there by the name of Isaac Parker V (or so), by any chance?

[nexgen99]

Sad but her own fault and that of her family who allowed her to travel alone.

[cathaleen]

This woman should not have been traveling alone. Obivously, she was unstable. The family probably just wanted her out of the picture. Now they have someone else to blame.

[sasi1-2009]

After the fact, the family wants to get justice? Sounds pretty stupid to me. They apparently knew she was having trouble, and yet they allowed her to travel alone? Why? Sounds as though she also had some mental problems, and the family was probably also aware of that fact. People seem to enjoy sueing anyone and everyone in this country, but they for darned sure don''t want to take any responsibility for themselves, and the ''politically'' connected even less so than the ordinary citizen.

[shanev137]

THE BOTTOM LINE IS: ONCE YOU ARREST SOMEONE....YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHATEVER HAPPENS TO THEM AND WHATEVER THEY DO TO THEMSELVES.

SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN CONSTANTLY SUPERVISED UNTIL MEDICAL PEOPLE COULD FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER.

MEXICAN-HATER JOE AND HIS POSSE OF THUGS HAD NO REGARD FOR THIS WOMAN''S LIFE AND LET HER DIE IN THEIR HOLDING CELL.

IT''S A NO BRAINER.

[abigail70]

"Under police procedure you don''t treat an emotionally distraught person or even an intoxicated person by handcuffing and shackling them. You get them help," Manning told CBS News. "So we''re disappointed that this happened to her. We want to find out why."

Oh, BS. Restraining them is sometimes the only thing you CAN do. She hung herself, but it''s always someone else''s fault. Whatever.

[oleander8]

Would''a, could''a, should''a . I hope the Phoenix police don''t settle just to shut the family up. If she was that ill, her ''caring family'' shouldn''t have let her travel alone.

[andomeda]

IMHO, the very best that can be said for the police is that they made a serious error in judgment in leaving this very distraught women alone in a holding cell and IGNORING her screams for help. What kind of human being just ignores another human''s desperate screams for help ? You at least check to make sure she is OK and not just every 15 minutes. Other than that, we do not know why or how she died. Hopefully the autopsy will provide answers and determine if she was accidently or deliberately murdered, committed suicide, or died a "natural" death (e.g., heart attack or stroke). Hopefully an investigation into what really happened will reveal whether the strangulation-by-handcuffs story is a cover-up. To me, it seems likely that it is.

[oleander8]

She was in a ROOM - not a CELL

[dogsoul]

"What kind of human being just ignores another human''''s desperate screams for help ? You at least check to make sure she is OK and not just every 15 minutes. "

What kind of person? I dunno... the kind of person who deals with those sort of people all the time??? Ya know, like cops or security people? And every 15 minutes seems like it''s quite often to me - I mean, unless you expect a guard to sit in a chair and stare at the raging woman for hours on end...

[rmwilliamsjr]

Once she was arrested the police are legally responsible for her health, safety and welfare. If she is having physical or mental problems they are responsible for summoning competent help. if she is suicidal or poses a danger to herself they are responsible to watch her.

the facts at this point seem pretty straight forward:
she was acting strangely.
she was arrested and restrained for acting strangely.

there are no video tapes. why? isn''t almost everything taped now days to avoid lawsuits and to show proper procedure?

she died while restrained and in custody, alone, shackled, distraught, while a number of officers chatted with each other in other room.

either someone neglected to follow procedures and left a "strangely behaving woman alone" or we have big pieces of information yet to receive.

[mollydtt]

Many times I''ve seen lawsuits brought by "loving" family members who emphasize that their relative was emotionally or mentally disabled, and therefore didn''t deserve any action on the part of security people or police. But, why are these volatile people on their own, unable to behave in a way that isn''t rather scary or dangerous to the other hundred or so people in their vicinity. The loving family members should have escorted this unfortunate soul to her treatment and not expected everyone else to automatically "know" that she was harmless and safe.
Also--these "holding" rooms should most definitely have cameras, or at least someone with the detainee at all times.

[extremophil]

So the family lawyer says "you don''t treat an emotionally distraught person or an intoxicated person by handcuffing and shackling them". Yeah, right.....you get them a drink and a cigarette.

[luigi999-2009]

More rotten excuses from the family of a nutcase woman. They smell money here probably hoping to file a "police brutality" suit. This woman was a head case who brought her own demise upon herself and now some people want to make excuses for her insane behavior.

[sevenveils]

Good point about the cameras. IS this where big brother conveniently turned an ever watchful eye from injustice?

What did the air carrier employees do you encourage the ladies tirade? What cruel and uncaring remarks did they make to her? Did they close the gate foor in her face?

One would think that since the flight was probably already 45 minutes late, what''s another minute or two to allow a passenger onboard?

What is the name of the airline and what was the flight number and departure time? The story is failing to provide significant facts. Such as does this air carrier have a history of mistreating its customers?

[shanev137]

It''s really amazing how many jackbooted, authoritarian, Nazi-like robots this story has brought out of the closet.

[thgdriver]

If you let the police kill this poor women and get away with it today you let them do it to you or your family tomorrow. I am glad she has some well connected relatives to make sure this negligence or crime is not covered up.

[ov442]

maybe it was Southwest, the same that tried to be fashion police to the young woman even when they actually had no dress code or policy.

If this woman didnt have relatives in high places, this would have been swept under the rug by the scum that wield power against the American populace.
a 105 lb woman. And they had to struggle with her? they should have purposely made sure they were gentle with her at that size anything they did could have hurt her.
Witnesses said she was running around the terminal yelling. I think they were saying she was running back an forth with a cape on telling people "i''m batman."
I wouldnt trust those witnesses. they''re all in cahoots!

[susanhelit]

"Many times I''ve seen lawsuits brought by "loving" family members who emphasize that their relative was emotionally or mentally disabled, and therefore didn''t deserve any action on the part of security people or police. But, why are these volatile people on their own, unable to behave in a way that isn''t rather scary or dangerous to the other hundred or so people in their vicinity. The loving family members should have escorted this unfortunate soul to her treatment and not expected everyone else to automatically "know" that she was harmless and safe. "

Exactly! A politically connected family raises all kinds of red flags here - how many times have they covered for her, enabled her, taught her the rules don''t apply to her. That''s probably why she flew off the handle - that and the alcoholism.


I love the lawyer - claims ''manhandled'' without a single thing to base it on - no claim someone saw it, no claim of a report - just says it, and figures that impression will go through the public, without a grain of truth attached, giving the family the sympathy they want.

Facts may change my opinion, but not this innuendo and rumor. Notice how not one passenger from the airport has come forward to say a word against the police? Not a singular one!

[susanhelit]

People having a temper tantrum, as this woman obviously was, scream all the time, for the attention, because they''re angry they can''t get their way. I''m sure she''s not unusual at all in that regard, among people detained, at the airport.

[shanev137]

http://www.tinyurl.com/2dm2ga

[erasmus6]

"Manning plans to send a representative to watch the county medical examiner''s autopsy of Gotbaum''s body Tuesday."

That person should be another medical examiner, someone that knows what they are seeing.

Also there should have been cameras in that holding room, then there wouldn''t be any questions and great speculation about what happened.

You would think with all the police brutality now they would have cameras in places like this, if for no other reason than to cover their a-s-s-e-s. But then they probably figure they don''t need to do that because they usually get off anyways.

[ljburwell]

If this family can send their own rep to the autopsy, why couldn''t they have sent a "rep" with her on her way to rehab? Maybe if she hadn''t been traveling alone this never would have happened.

[eggy1620]

A member of a politically prominent New York family. Let us dissect that description. New Yorker %u2013 narcissist. Politically prominent New Yorker %u2013 the worst type of Narcissist. Politically prominent alcoholic New Yorker %u2013 well, no one on earth is as important as this woman. %u201CIf that plane had just been turned around, landed, and brought back to the gate, like it would have for any one of us, our loved one would be alive.%u201D Personally, I think her kids%u2019 odds of living normal fulfulling lives have increased exponentially.

[gangesdak]

Yesterday I read that the police made a statment that this woman behaved outragously in the airport. So ouragous that she had to be gagged to death? Where is the sense of proportion? The police and the police deaprtment must be brought to justice. I am relieved to know that this family has political connections; more power to them. And please, don''t "advice" the family to send a "rep" with her to the rehab- that comment was most insensitive and uncalled for.

[godseyesore-2009]

You can''t kill yourself by asphyxiation with your own hands...you would pass out first. If she died from hands to the neck, you can bet it was the police trying to silence her.

[rushlimpdrug]

You can''''t kill yourself by asphyxiation with your own hands...you would pass out first. If she died from hands to the neck, you can bet it was the police trying to silence her.
Posted by godseyesore

Don''t worry, the kops will have their story dead on.
They can prove anything is possible, and that means anything.

[scottyusa]

Everyone should be aware that police and and other authorities will overreact in airports. Her treatment by the airline sounds normal. I fly a lot and am always amazed that people come aboard seconds before the door closes. Once the door closes thats it. Why this lady flew off the handle when it was her own fault she couldn''t get there in time and received standard treatment is beyond me. I will reserve judgement on the police until further facts are presented. The room without a camera could get real suspicious if there were another available that had a camera. After all one would think that the handcuffs were for her own protection while in the room alone?

[linfinster]

Personally, I think her kids%u2019 odds of living normal fulfulling lives have increased exponentially.
Posted by eggy1620


Ooooh that was mean. Quite possible true but, aside from what we''ve been told, we really can''t say that is true is this case.

[sharncedar]

she wasn''t late for the flight. she was on time, they had closed the plane doors and didn''t let her on. They have discreation, for some people the doors are opened and the people are let on, these attendents decided to screw her. They called the secuity guards immediately, I''ve seen thsi exact kind of thing happen, and believe me, it can happen to you or your children. Then i don''t think you''ll be laughing so hard. she kept crying out for help, the security guards were embarrased, so they went in there to shut her up. They applied a choke hold, killed her by accident, those choke holds are the kind of thing amateur guards use they are really quite dangerous.

A lousy way to die, becoming more common every day in america. Tell you what, since some of the yokels on this board are having a big laugh at this woman, let''s have a big laugh when it happens to their kids or loved ones. Hah. Hows that?

[susanhelit]

From NY Times reports, she strangled herself on the chain shackling her to the bench. That works - that can happen.

No, expecting people to open the door, and make a whole plane run a little later (and possibly make others miss their connections) for your convenience isn''t reasonable. If you aren''t there at boarding time (not takeoff time, boarding time!), then it''s your own fault you missed it.


She went nuts (hitting people on their heads with her cell phone, by eyewitness reports), had to be restrained, and went nuts enough in those restraints to somehow die. Maybe she choked herself on the shackle. Maybe she was so freaked out, too much adrenaline, had a heart attack. Maybe she was on drugs. Not the police''s fault, unless they did something wrong. But restraining a person who is out of control is not wrong, it''s part of their jobs.

[toldyouso21]

"Police said she was late for a flight and became angry when a gate crew didn''t let her on the plane. Witnesses told police she was yelling and running throughout the terminal. "

Picture this: You are late for your flight and are running through the terminal and shouting to passerby to excuse you but you are about to miss your flight--imagine you are also shouting at the people in uniform to hold that flight. Now you get there and they are preparing to close the doors. You explain who you are and how you just arrived--you may be talking fast and a bit loud due to all the shouting and running you just did.They tell you , they bumped you, gave someone else your seat and now you have to wait. But you must catch that flight--maybe it was a court ordered rehab and if you aren''t there, you lose your place or get in trouble. You try talking , loudly complaining but still, the answer is no--you are desperate and won''t give up, then some police come and handcuff you dragging you away.....

this could be any of us who are late and type A or late and desperately want to catch our plane--the question is: What really happened in that holding room and why are there no surveillance cameras there? If the woman WAS a terrorist, she certainly was given free time to detonate herself.

[Krazcarl]

eggy1620...Your a buthole and any individual who make a statement like that is next door to a child molester. If you thought you were funny you weren''t you one sick cookie the kind that hides in the shadows,

[andomeda]

SusanHelit writes: "I love the lawyer - claims ''''manhandled'''' without a single thing to base it on - no claim someone saw it, no claim of a report - just says it, and figures that impression will go through the public, without a grain of truth attached..."

Sorry, Susan, this is not true. Other newspaper articles have reported that she was "wrestled to the ground", that one policemen put his knee in her back while at least 2 other policemen grabbed at her flailing arms and legs, they then handcuffed her and then "dragged her away". Sounds like "man-handling" to me !! If you have only read one article about a story, you shouldn''t jump to conclusions and attack people when you don''t know the whole story.

[tngreen]

I have a friend who is a nurse. She once assisted an attorney in a wrongful death case against a police department, in which an out-of-control mental patient was beaten to death by six police officers. After reviewing the autopsy report, she commented, "Over the years, I have been punched, scratched, bitten, and slapped by patients who were out of control--and I have never, EVER so much as hit a patient, much less beaten one to death. This level of force is not necessary to control someone, if you know what you are doing."

This woman was probably experiencing DTs and needed immediate medical help. Don''t they train these people?

[Krazcarl]

TNGREEN..Thank-You for an enlightened post I was also a nurse {LPN} never found it cool to abuse someone cause I could guess that''s the difference you have a classy friend not all nurses are that way.

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by crzmeat at 09:37 PM : Oct 02, 2007
+ report abuse


Posted by tngreen at 09:17 PM : Oct 02, 2007
report abuse

****************************

Imagine a police force that works like they way you want..

what you get is an out of control city. a city-full of dead police officers..

[xzavierbrown]

Sorry, Susan, this is not true. Other newspaper articles have reported that she was "wrestled to the ground", that one policemen put his knee in her back while at least 2 other policemen grabbed at her flailing arms and legs, they then handcuffed her and then "dragged her away". Sounds like "man-handling" to me !! If you have only read one article about a story, you shouldn''''t jump to conclusions and attack people when you don''''t know the whole story.

Posted by andomeda at 08:55 PM : Oct 02, 2007
+ report abuse

********************

that is what happens when "please" do not work..when "pleading" does not work..and when a person is ''unruly'' in a civlian setting.

[andomeda]

xzavierbrown:
Yes, I understand that. I was merely disabusing SusanHelit of her idea that the lawyer had absolutely no evidence or witness reports of man-handling of the woman in question.

[susanhelit]

Sorry andromeda - but man-handling implies they were treating her worse than was required. Those same witness accounts have her going nuts. Not some normal irate passenger who is suddenly tackled, but an out of control woman who required that minimal force to take her into custody.

[Krazcarl]

xzavierbrown...What is your problem not all police are bad no one is impliying that I''m a 200 lb man and in no way fere a 100 lb. lady unless a weapon was present though there might be a black belt out there that could send me packing. This reaks of coverup I used to be a nurse and have known nurses I wouldn''t want to take care of my dog. Chaining an unruly woman ton a table is severe and they were going to teach her a lesson thought it was funny at best at worst they went in and tried to shut her up. She was horrified sure never been in that situation before and thought she could reason with the police she was wrong. I don''t condon her behavior but being a loudmouth at an airport should not be a death sentance. Covering for bad apples is not protecting them just makes you look bad.