Posted on 10/01/2007 7:44:01 AM PDT by Roberts
The daughter-in-law of one of New York's top officials screamed, "I'm not a terrorist!" and fought with security officials in the Phoenix airport before being wrestled to the ground and handcuffed, witnesses told the Daily News yesterday.
Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, of the upper West Side, died less than an hour later, after cops claim she apparently strangled herself while trying to escape from the handcuffs in a holding cell at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
"I'm not a terrorist! I'm a sick mom! I need help!" yelled the mother of three after she missed the 2:58 p.m. US Airways Express flight to Tucson, said airport workers who witnessed the confrontation Friday.
They said one cop put his knee in her back to restrain her while others grabbed her flailing arms.
"I believe she was a little not-there. She kept punching. She kept screaming. She kept kicking," one worker told The News. "She looked really scared, really frightened. I think she was afraid to go to jail."
Gotbaum's husband, Noah, is the son of longtime city labor leader Victor Gotbaum and the stepson of his wife, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, a possible candidate for mayor in 2009.
Betsy Gotbaum said her stunned family was still searching for answers in the sudden death.
"Carol was a wonderful, wonderful person," Betsy Gotbaum said. "She was a wonderful mother. She was sweet and kind and loving. At this moment, we are awaiting the results of the investigation."
Cops said Gotbaum was traveling alone and could not explain why she was in Phoenix or what prompted her anger. She was charged with disorderly conduct.
Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said Gotbaum kept screaming after she was placed in the holding cell, until cops realized she had been silent for several minutes and found her unresponsive. The county medical examiner has not determined a cause of death.
"The longest she was alone was five or 10 minutes," Hill said.
She was handcuffed behind her back, Hill said.
But he couldn't immediately explain why a distressed woman was left alone in handcuffs while seven police officers were in the security office.
This woman sounds like she was disturbed in many respects.
They will all get the chance at the civil suit that will be levied against them.
Not a whole lot of information here.
Mental and/or drug problems is my bet.
Sounds like a typical reaction of an addict separated from her fix. Even minor pill dependencies can explode into major anxiety attacks when the addict miscalculates.
Last stages of Bush Derangement Syndrome...
Wow, and I thought she sounded like a typical Manhattanite!
I can, it's right there in the story......
Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said Gotbaum kept screaming after she was placed in the holding cell,
from AZcentral.com:
Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, was arrested Friday after a conflict with gate crews who refused to allow her to board a plane, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman.
US Airways spokesman Derek Hanna said Gotbaum was rebooked on the next flight, but “she became extremely irate, apparently running up and down the gate area.”
Officers handcuffed her and took her to the holding room, where she kept screaming. Hill said officers checked on her when she stopped screaming and found her unresponsive.
Hill said it appears Gotbaum may have tried to get out of her handcuffs, became tangled in the process and the cuffs ended up around her neck. A cause of death will be determined by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner.
“She was very agitated and irate and angry,” Hill said. “These are the things that led to the disorderly conduct arrest.”
Authorities said neither a Taser stun gun nor pepper spray was used on the woman.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/0930airportfolo.html
Has video.
“a MISSED FLIGHT leads to a tirade”
I can’t visualize how she got the cuffs around her throat.
I can’t visualize how she got the cuffs around her throat.
It had the answer to one question from yesterday — her hands were cuffed BEHIND her.
Now, how do you take your arms cuffed behind you, and move them around so you end up strangling yourself? That’s the next question.
I have no idea.
Are you suggesting that she was strangled by a third party?
I have seen people at the airport treated like dirt. One poor woman was told that her flight was delayed by an hour and was told to take a walk for a while - she came back and the flight was about to leave! She burst into tears - other pasengers and I backed up her story and they let her board the flight. I can see why somebody would become unhinged. And then there is the way people are treated as they go through security - the non terrorists, I mean. Conditions in the airports are deplorable. I feel so sorry for this woman and her children.
If you have ever been at the airport when there are massive flight delays or the people doing the “check in” are crawling and you are looking at your watch, it is not difficult to understand why a passenger would go into a tirade. If this poor woman was such a “danger” why did they book her for A LATER FLIGHT? If she was “disorderly”, why didn’t they haul her off to jail? The whole story is fishy. I have to say it again: the airlines treat passengers like dirt.
No, I’m just really curious how she strangled herself.
Obviously she’s dead, and it seems pretty certain nobody was in the room with her at the time.
I was wondering if maybe the CUFFS didn’t strangle her, but instead while she was maneuvering she somehow got something ELSE wrapped around her neck, and with her hands behind her back she couldn’t recover.
Just a curiousity. I’ve seen other people say you COULD pull an arm up over your head in this position, so maybe that’s what happened. I know I couldn’t do it, but I’m not really flexible.
When a cop tells you to calm down or you will be arrested, you do just that or you’re gonna be put in detention....it’s that simple....if I were a witness to that woman’s behavior my first thought would be to wonder if the woman was creating a distraction for a terrorist...ANY aberrant behavior at an airport now days is going to draw a swift response....I’m sorry the woman is dead but who is she to scream and yell to get special treatment the rest of us don’t get.
new details:
>>CBS 2 learned on that Carol Gotbaum was on the way to an alcohol rehabilitation center in Tucson when she was taken to a holding cell where she died.
and some are saying the police should be charged with
manhandling her
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_273073120.html
“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. Carol, who was only 5-foot-7 and 105 pounds, appears to have been manhandled by the Phoenix Police Department”...The incident happened at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Friday when Carol Ann, a 45-year-old wife and mother of three, apparently arrived late at the gate for a US Airways flight to Tucson and argued to be allowed on board. Police were summoned.”
could be; also could be that in some cases (not this one)
security could be overzealous. But it was said that they
were going to book her for the next flight so even if she
was upset at missing that first one, why would she go
into a tirade and get violent enough that they had to
arrest her?
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