Tape Shows Scuffle Before Airport Death

Carol Anne Gotbaum Resists Arrest, Behaves Erratically On Surveillance Video

(CBS/AP)  Newly released surveillance video of a woman who died in police custody shows her running through an airport terminal, bowing abruptly as she appeared to yell and then resisting arrest as three officers try to control her.

"Based on witness statements she's screaming at the top of her lungs, 'I'm not a terrorist I'm not a terrorist,'" said Phoenix Police Sgt. Mike Polombo.

After police handcuffed Carol Anne Gotbaum behind her back, she locked her legs as officers held her by the arms and pushed her, still standing, through the terminal at Sky Harbor International Airport, the video shows.

Police released the video and their report on her arrest Thursday amid allegations from Gotbaum's family that officers manhandled her before her death last month.

"The struggle itself is a reasonable restraint technique," Reginald Allard, an experienced law enforcement leader, trainer and educator. said on CBS News' The Early Show. "The three officers, as far as I can tell from the videotape, are leveraging her down into a restrain, handcuff position, which is what we do."

Police in this situation would decide whether to handle this as a medical crisis or as a criminal problem, said Allard.

"In this case, the context would indicate that there's a medical crisis," he said.

Authorities are investigating the death. The family and the attorney have said they will not comment during a mourning period that ends early next week.

Gotbaum was arrested Sept. 28 for disorderly conduct after she was kept off a connecting flight that was to bring her to Tucson, where she was set to enter a treatment center to confront her alcoholism. The 45-year-old is the stepdaughter-in-law of New York City's public advocate, an elected watchdog of city government.

At 1:06 p.m. Gotbaum arrived at the gate, one minute after the doors closed. The gate agent told her she could get on the next flight leaving at 2:58 p.m., reports CBS News Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor.

She called her husband Noah several times, desperate and deeply concerned she missed her flight.

At 2:49 p.m., Phoenix police got a radio call about a "loud and disturbing" person. The video inside the airport shows Gotbaum, clearly distraught.

At 2:53, officers stepped in, and Gotbaum was soon on the floor, reports Glor.

"She's placed on her stomach and they're having a hard time pulling her right arm from underneath her stomach, which is pinned against the ground," said Polombo. "They pull her over to the right a little bit, which pops her arm out."

Her husband called emergency dispatchers before learning of her death to say she was in a deep depression and suicidal, according to the police report.

"They're not dealing with some lout who's just drank too much on an airplane," the report quoted Noah Gotbaum as saying. "That's not what's going on here."

He also warned, "They're playing with real fire right now."

Police said Gotbaum was shackled to a bench with a chain about two feet long and left alone in a holding room for about six to eight minutes. She was then found unconscious and not breathing, with the chain from the shackle pulled against the front of her neck.

"Because a person is handcuffed does not make that person safe to the officers or to themselves," Allard, a 32-year police veteran who works as a police procedures and practices liability consultant, told Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm.

"They should have been keeping an eye on her?" asked Storm.

"Throughout that contact. And there should have been a medical response for that purpose," replied Allard.

There were frantic attempts to revive Gotbaum, including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR.

But at 3:29 pm, Carol Anne Gotbaum was pronounced dead.

The video released Thursday did not contain audio, and Gotbaum was a considerable distance from the cameras throughout most of the footage.

Gotbaum backed away after airport workers and police approached her. Next, she was on the ground - it was unclear how she got there - and continued resisting officers after they put her back on her feet. Shoeless by this point, she then dragged her feet while being led away.

The autopsy conducted Tuesday on Gotbaum was inconclusive, and toxicology results needed to determine a cause of death will not be available for a few weeks, a county medical examiner said.

[Krazcarl]

Regina you weren''t there you got a clip to look at a few second hand acounts and your mind is made up and you don''t care she deserved it or it was her faimlies fault her faimily did not kill her and doughted they hired airport security to do it . The story has already been altered from self strangulation with cuffs to a shakle chain when folks change there story there is a reason I''ll put my paycheck when she was in that roon and realized how screwed she was she was begging and they were going to shut her up , but thats right after being chained to a table she gut gut cuffs or chains around her neck and killed herself to get out of rehab.

[erasmus6]

"...and they dealt with it appropriately while waiting for someone else to come." posted by ReginaRegina

I don''t believe they did actually deal with it appropriately. She wasn''t caught doing something suspicious, she was out of control and obviously in distress. The first thing they should have done was phone for medical help. And when they put her in that room, she should NOT have been left unattended. When you see someone like that in obvious distress and you don''t know what is causing it, you do not leave them alone.

[reginaregina]

1. She wasn''t "trying to reason with them"---if she had been, she''d still be here. What she was doing instead was yelling, screaming, kicking at them well BEFORE she was cuffed and taken to the holding room. The yelling and screaming and running around creating a disturbance in a public place was what caused security to be called in the first place. When they got there, they tried to talk to her, but she fought them instead. She was the one who initiated that conduct--not them. THAT is why they took her to the room---to give her a chance to settle down (and not be a threat to others in the airport in the meantime) while they were waiting for someone to come and further assess the situation.

2. It really doesn''t matter what her intentions were in her own mind. What matters is how she behaved as a result of them. Security officers are not meant to be psychologists or mind readers. They had a situation (caused by HER), and they dealt with it appropriately while waiting for someone else to come.

3. Your past abuse by police is totally irrelevant---has absolutely nothing to do with this. If you were abused by police, that doesn''t mean everyone else is. But from reading your posts, it honestly doesn''t come as a surprise that you were, since you seem to be of the same mentality that everyone ELSE is always somehow responsible for what you (the royal you) do. You aren''t exactly creating sympathy or credibility for yourself by mentioning that repeatedly.

[Krazcarl]

REGINAREGINA. I have been the victum of police abuse she was a lady seeking help not death yes she ran her mouth about missing a flight that was important to her to put her life back to gether so they chained her to a table and in her mind she thought she could reason with police and they would let her go a common mistake in first time offenders when there basicaly innocent of any crime. Let me chain you to a table in the back room of an airport and see if you don''t scream they abused her and tried to shut her up and she died now it''s a cover my hinny thing and your stupid enough to believe it, it won''t get you out of your next ticket. Use your head for something besides a hat rack.

[reginaregina]

Crazymeat seems to be unwilling (or just unable??) to comprehend the conceptual difference between personal responsibility (that this woman''s fate was caused by the actions and inactions of herself and her own family) vs. "deserving" something.

Of course she didn''t DESERVE her fate. But she and her family ARE RESPONSIBLE for it---no one else.

But I suppose that in Crazy''s world, no one is ever responsible for what happens to oneself. It''s always someone ELSE''s fault, so there''s always someone else to blame (and therefore sue), even when the consequences of one''s actions are no one''s fault but one''s own.

The family needs to stop pointing their fingers at the police who were doing their jobs and acted appropriately based on the circumstances and information they had at the time, blaming them for something THEY should have handled differently from the beginning. The family needs to instead point their fingers back at themselves. They don''t want to face that they were the ones who truly wronged this woman, and are trying to deflect that responsibility onto others.

[erasmus6]

"However, her husband was even on the phone as it was happening telling them that she has a condition." posted by rudy654

It is my understanding that they talked to him AFTER
they had locked her up.

And talking to the husband on the phone would be different than if he was actually there. They had no way of knowing for sure who they were talking to.

[grammawhamma]

crzmeat: Where do you get that most of the posters think she deserved it? I read every post on this story and it seems to me that the majority say the woman should have been accompanied by a family member or a friend.

[Krazcarl]

PWRSLM...Ahh for once we agree it can happen being a victun of police abuse I think they were going to shut her up and went to far and killed her and are now trying to cover there tracks the odd thing is that most of the posters think she desereved it?

[rudy654-2009]

She was not in a great state of mind but the chances are that the person with her would have been in a better state of mind and wouldn''''t have allowed it to get that far. Because she had no one with her, they did not know what her problem was. If a person was with her they would have told the cops what her problem was and I could pretty well guarantee that they would have been calling for medical help and would NOT have handcuffed her and left her alone. It doesn''''t take a rocket scientist, rudy, to figure that one out, just a little common sense.
Posted by erasmus6 at 11:16 PM

However, her husband was even on the phone as it was happening telling them that she has a condition. Did that work? No. So, now you''re telling me that being physically there would have made a difference, and all I get is that it is obvious (DUH) that it would have. I have no way of knowing that you are right or not, because saying so, doesn''t mean it is so. Since we can''t repeat this experiment, I find it rather audacious to make claims not in evidence.

[pwrslm]

Police know that anytime you get a person acting psychotic, you dont close them in a room with a 3 foot chain.

Thats basic. They should have had someone with this lady until medical help arrived. The Police were negligent as far as the truth goes here, the will probably be sued for wrongful death.

[erasmus6]

"It looks to me like he said something to her to throw her into a rage." posted by GrammaWhamma

Probably, any husband that would let his wife, who was deeply depressed and suicidal, travel alone, must be a major jerk.

[erasmus6]

"Then uh, DUH! I hope I got my point across to you." posted by rudy654

And what point would that be?

The whole point is that if she had someone with her the outcome COULD have been different. No, it doesn''t mean for sure but the chances were certainly good that it could. It only takes one thing in a sequence of events, to change the outcome of something.

She was not in a great state of mind but the chances are that the person with her would have been in a better state of mind and wouldn''t have allowed it to get that far. Because she had no one with her, they did not know what her problem was. If a person was with her they would have told the cops what her problem was and I could pretty well guarantee that they would have been calling for medical help and would NOT have handcuffed her and left her alone. It doesn''t take a rocket scientist, rudy, to figure that one out, just a little common sense.

[grammawhamma]

I still wonder why it took this woman one hour and 43 minutes to get upset from the time she missed her original flight until she caused a disturbance. Her disturbance occurred only after she talked to her husband on the phone several times. It looks to me like he said something to her to throw her into a rage.

[kailumego1]

I can''t believe her family is actually suing, but then again, considering who she is I''m not surprised.

If this had been ordinary Sue, oh well, too bad, she would have had the *** beat out of her with the backing of the police force and society...

This woman was a "nut case", a druggie that felt the world should stop and adhere to her needs give me a break..

[kailumego1]

Special treatment, some folks feel they''re entitled to receive special treatment others wouldn''t have received otherwise..

This woman was lucky she didn''t get shot for her obnoxious behavior, I''ve heard of "less" benign incidents where the individual was "shot dead" for resisting...

This woman and her family is FULL of SH[I]T....

She was running around like a maniac, a lunatic and she expected special treatment how rude.....

It''s her fault, no police error, but hers.

[zootallures2]

Ironic! A victim of their own system and lies.

[grammawhamma]

rudy I used DUH!! because I figured you wouldn''t know what bigger words meant. Sorry I talked down to you...but I see you still don''t get it. Do you really think if a family member or friend would have accompanied her the end result would have been the same?

[rudy654-2009]

I think DUH!!, just about covers it. It gets the point across and I don''''t think that a big fancy word would do a better job.

Then uh, DUH! I hope I got my point across to you.

[rudy654-2009]

These things could very well have stopped what happened or at the very least they would probably not have handcuffed her and would maybe have just put her in the room with the person she was with, until she settled down.
Posted by erasmus6 at 09:23 PM

And you know this HOW?

[erasmus6]

"I know you come from Backwater, Nowhere, but could you do a little more than write DUH!!?" posted by rudy654

I don''t know rudy, I think DUH!!, just about covers it. It gets the point across and I don''t think that a big fancy word would do a better job.

Now if this person had someone with her, I would say the chances of that happening would be a lot less likely. First off, she probably would have been more on time for the flight. Secondly, if they weren''t, the other person could have calmed her if she was getting upset and also explained to the security the reasons she was upset. These things could very well have stopped what happened or at the very least they would probably not have handcuffed her and would maybe have just put her in the room with the person she was with, until she settled down.