Why Flying Now Can Kill

http://www.washingtonpost.com ^ | 10/14/07 | A.L. Bardach

[BCrago66]

I am haunted by the death of Carol Anne Gotbaum.

I didn't know the mother of three who died shackled to a bench in the Phoenix airport on Sept. 28, en route to an alcohol treatment center in Tucson. I don't know, beyond what I read in the newspapers, what troubles weighed on her. But I do know this: Based on my own recent flight experiences, hers was a death foretold.

[tbpiper]

she was evidentally too busy at the bar..

Since she was reportedly their 25 minutes early and wasn't anywhere reported to be intoxicated or smelling of booze, you might want to consider jumping to a different conclusion.

[Aria]

I thought US air stood up to Muslims and we all loved them? Am I remembering this incorrectly?

[PLMerite]

When Hillary! gets in, people won’t be given a choice where to go. :)

[longtermmemmory]

why was someone like this traveling alone?

[KTM rider]

Not well said,

IMO after reading the various news stories, Unless I see a video of her choking herself to death, I contend that she died because poorly trained and unqualified police over-reacted and killed her

[VOA]

bump

[bert]

The woman was unfit for being alone in public. she wasn’t capable of such a journey alone.

The place of her death was probably less relevant than the time of death.

[Aria]

I found it...they kicked Muslim “scholars” off the plane. (Why do they always get away with calling themselves scholars?)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15824096/

[BlazingArizona]

We must do everything possible to accommodate the mentally ill lest they throw a fit to get their way?

The more airlines treat their passengers like criminals, the more "mentally ill" the public is going to get. I predict a riot at some busy airport by next summer.

[jimboster]

Since she was reportedly their 25 minutes early and wasn't anywhere reported to be intoxicated or smelling of booze, you might want to consider jumping to a different conclusion.
Well, you might want to tell the Gotbaum family attorney (Mr. Manning) not to jump to that conclusion.
According to USA Today,
"She was completely sober when she left New York and when she landed in Phoenix," Manning said. From the airport, she telephoned her husband, Noah, Manning said, and told him she was happy about entering rehabilitation. However, Manning added, "we believe that she probably had some drinks" during the layover.
She reported late to the gate for her connecting flight. When denied permission to board, she became loud and angry and threw her PDA (personal digital assistant), breaking it into pieces, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman. Witnesses said she was screaming, "I'm not a terrorist! I'm a sick mom!" Rubenstein said.

[LdSentinal]

She was a nut who smashed a cell phone over an innocent passerby.

And she hated American cops.

[BlazingArizona]

I hope the Gotbaum family takes US Air/Mesa to the cleaners and drives them out of business.

That's the whole problem. The market has already answered the problem of bad airline service. The crappy airlines have gone into bankruptcy. Unfortunately, Congress can't just let them liquidate and sell of their assets to new airlines that can use them more productively. The bad guys keep getting bailed out and "reorganized", over and over again. Every time we travel, the bad airlines of the past are back to haunt us, like mummy-wrapped B-movie zombies.

[JoeGar]

There would be no need for airlines to overbook flights if they did not give refunds for tickets purchased. Who else will give you a refund for a seat ticket you bought? I say, if you buy a ticket and want to reneg, go re-sell your seat yourself.

[PLMerite]

“...dropping of an officers knee from a jump onto the throat...”

If the police operate the way they do on “Cops” then I can only imagine what they do when they think no one else is watching. I’m surprised more people aren’t seriously injured being taken into custody.

[BCrago66]

OK, one you your sources is a cop whose department faces a lawsuit, and another source is a lawyer, speculating about what he did not see.

0 + 0 = 0.

[jimboster]

She arrived after boarding was completed. She had 90 minutes to make the connecting flight. The family’s attorney admits this. The family attorney also theorizes Ms. Gotbaum drank at lunch in the airport between flights. I assume he knows this because the wife called the husband before she went to the gate for the connecting flight. It’s also possible the family knew she was a “mean” drunk, so they immediately realized she was intoxicated by her actions.

[marsh2]

FOX news ran some tapes from a police dispatcher from the husband calling in to make sure that the cops knew she was suicidal. (This was an hour after her death, but he did not know she had died and they did not tell him at that point.)

If he knew she was suicidal and unstable, why didn’t he accompany her?

[KTM rider]

both parties in this case are probable liars.......and the lawyer is probably raising speculation that she was drunk to push for an "accidental death" ruling that would avoid a risky "wrongful death" case with a jury which, in Phoenix, would most likely be predominantly composed of Mormans and most likely would favor the morman cops over a "drunk"

either way the lawyer gets paid and the hubby probably had a huge life insurance policy on her

[KTM rider]

both parties in this case are probable liars.......and the lawyer is probably raising speculation that she was drunk to push for an "accidental death" ruling that would avoid a risky "wrongful death" case with a jury which, in Phoenix, would most likely be predominantly composed of Mormans and most likely would favor the morman cops over a "drunk"

either way the lawyer gets paid and the hubby probably had a huge life insurance policy on her

[BenLurkin]

Sounds like a member of the Kennedy clan.