Oct 05 2007
Phoenix Airport surveillance video of Gotbaum’s arrest supports police account
The media hopped all over this tape, but it honestly shows little and supports the police account more then not.
Surveillance Video: Gotbaum's Last Moments At Phoenix Airport- Attorney: Police Actions May Have Killed 45-Year-Old
CBS 2 HD has obtained surveillance video showing three different angles of last week's arrest of Carol Anne Gotbaum at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix.
The video shows the daughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum reacting after learning she had missed her flight. It also shows Phoenix police officers move in on her, take her to the ground and arrest her.
Different angles show officers taking Gotbaum to a holding cell, where she later died mysteriously.
On the morning of Sept. 29, Gotbaum left her Upper West Side home, brought her children to school and flew off to Arizona. Plagued by a history of drinking and depression, she headed for an alcohol rehabilitation program in Tucson.
"I know when she landed in Phoenix, she was stone-cold sober," said Gotbaum family attorney Michael Manning. "She got off the plane, called her husband, confident, committed, excited."
I might accept that when the flight crew confirms she had no alcohol on her flight. He cannot know anything for sure based on a phone call.
With 90 minutes to go for her connecting flight, Gotbaum went to eat lunch at the airport.
"We don't know whether she was drinking at lunch. We're going to find that out," said Manning.
That is a good question, particularly since she apparently lost track of time.
Then she arrived for her connecting flight to Tucson. But she was too late. According to one witness who preferred to be unnamed, she became hysterical.
"She got her cell phone, broke it on a couple of customers, hit hem, threw it on her," said the witness.
At 2:49 pm, Phoenix Police received got a radio call about a woman who was "loud and disturbing." Within minutes, officers were struggling to subdue her.
She was arrested at 2:53 p.m. One officer used a knee to her back.
"She was screaming 'You're hurting me!'" recalled another witness. "The handcuffs are too tight on me!'"
No disrespect intended, but watch cops. Everyone says that.
Some speculate that could have been Gotbaum's fatal moment.
"When a person is lying prone and someone is lying on the back of the person, the person can't breathe," said former NYPD Captain Edward Mamet.
That's known as compressional asphyxia. Her attorney says the police could have killed Gotbaum right then and there.
Bull. She was according to witnesses screaming profanity and complaints the entire time.
"The witnesses that saw her just before she went into the holding tank say she was completely listless and unconscious," said Manning.
But according to police: "No one got hurt. The officers picked Ms. Gotbaum up on her feet and two officers then began to escort her to a holding area."
The video seems to confirm that, it clearly shows her walking under her own power, and the reactions of those they pass confirms the police account that she continued to yell and resist all the way out of the terminal.
Police say Gotbaum then refused to allow them to search her. They chained her, handcuffed, to a bench. And then they left her alone.
According to police: "Officers felt due to their experience and the actions that had taken place Ms. Gotbaum was not a threat to others or to herself."
But they were wrong. At 3:29 p.m., Gotbaum was discovered dead. Police say she strangled herself with her chain. Her lawyer isn't so sure.
"It's pretty clear that somehow, some way, somebody used that chain around her neck," said Manning.
Police say they didn't know anything about her history of drinking or mental illness, and that they handled the case by the book.
The lawyer is not helping. Making veiled accusations of murder is not warranted. All he is doing is making a tragic accident into a circus.
His comments also in a way vindicated the police's assertion that they did what was necessary. He chided them for locking her up when she was emotionally unstable, which adds credibility to the notion she may have been acting irrational.
Note to him: how were they supposed to know that she had this history necessitating special treatment?
And I am not happy with all the focus on her high profile family. As far as I am concerned this was tragic no matter who she was. I refuse to allow wealth and privilege to become a factor in outrage.
And so far, by all I have seen, and by the witness statements, the evidence confirms that this was a horrible accident. The police, near as I can tell, acted reasonably.
Maybe more will surface and change my mind, but that's where it is at now. I extend condolences to her family. They will find no comfort in this story, no matter what the findings are.
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10 Responses to “Phoenix Airport surveillance video of Gotbaum’s arrest supports police account”
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While I have sympathy for her family, I don’t have much for her husband. You send your wife ALONE on a cross-country flight, knowing that she is unstable, depressed, an alcoholic, someone who is incapable of dealing with stress? What more stressful public activity is there today than flying? Where is there more easily available alcohol than at an airport? Did he mention to the airline that she was unstable? Did he consider how her instability might affect other passengers and airline workers?
Another thing is that if her mother-in-law is the public advocate, she should have known that you hospitalize people that are suicidal, have them detoxified in the hospital and only send them to treatment AFTER they are no longer actively suicidal and medically stable. If indeed she was a heavy drinker, stayed with friends a few days without drinking, then her trip would coincide with onset of DT’s. Potentially life threatening. If this is the case, no wonder she had a few drinks to stave off the nausea, sweating, headache, tremors, possibey hallucinations, and other symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal.
I agree with the earlier post. WHERE was her husband or family???? Why did they not escort her to Tucson??? Sounds like greedy people going after money at this point…
Your response is reasonable, but not much impassioned. (Is that politcally incorrect?) The death of a helpless woman in police custody is a cause for alarm under any circumstance; but the fact that three persons of jewish ancestry have died in federal custody or jurisdiction in the last five years might raise an eye brow. Add Ms. Gotbaum to the names of Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel, the latter also in the state of Arizona. All under unreasonable and suspicious circumstance, dare I say unexplained?. Try handcuffing your hands behind your back and raising them over your head to choke your self to death. The after the fact acknowledgement that a shackle and a bench are added (long after the original disclosure of fact) only complicates the physical difficulty of an explanation. Perhaps she jack knifed into her legirons and danced in circles to rap the chain around her neck? Unless you believe the ‘OTHER’ official version that the shackle was attached to her wrists. Maybe she cut her wrists with a plastic jail issue razor blade and stood on the bench and plunged head first into her shackle chain. Maybe she cut her hands completely off with that plastic razor and used her now free ankles to beat herself to death with that still unexplained cinder block? Or maybe the fog of eagle shit is so profound that even a devil dog would choke on it. It sure sticks in my craw. JR
Look, I don’t treat any of this trivially. I too regard any death in police custody seriously, even if accidental.
But I am suspending blame pending actual facts, such as an autopsy and tox results.
And there is absolutely no way I will buy into some anti-Semitic conspiracy.
And finally, the police action as near as I can tell from all reports was consistent with policy, and nothing I saw in the video was out of line or cruel.
I can not believe that the husband is blaming people at the airport for the death of his wife. Saying that she would still be alive if “ONE PERSON” could have stepped in to help her.
She would have still been alive if he would have care to take her to this rehab in the first place.
It is his fault that his wife was alone.
How dare you Mr. Gotbuam for pointing the finger at everyone but yourself. Shame on YOU!!
What is it with Americans and alcohol? What blind bit of difference does it make if she was “intoxicated” (as Americans insist on calling it to avoid taking using that shocking word “drunk”)?
Is it because a drunk person is a bad person and therefore deserves to die? (All in accordance with American culture which stipulates that every person is inherently good or bad and the bad people might as well be executed right away and leave the good ones to get on with it?
Or is it that drunk people are dangerous, so you can’t blame these big, burly policemen for being so terrified of a drunk woman that they didn’t dare let up on the brutality?
To me, this is just another example of a sick, judgemental society that completely lacks humanity and is allowed to be controlled by a bunch of airheads with an inferiority complex getting a kick out of putting on a uniform and beating and humiliating people.
And to think this nation calls itself Christian! If it wasn’t such a disgrace, it would be comical.
Carrie, I think your comments are off target.
Replies below.
> What is it with Americans and alcohol? What blind bit of difference does it make if she was “intoxicated” (as Americans insist on calling it to avoid taking using that shocking word “drunk”)?
It doesn’t make a difference except to possibly explain why her behaviors was so irrational at the airport. The whole incident stemmed from her being hysterical and disruptive, and being drunk or even slightly inebriated might explain why.
It also could explain her refusal to cooperate, and her being combative.
> Is it because a drunk person is a bad person and therefore deserves to die? (All in accordance with American culture which stipulates that every person is inherently good or bad and the bad people might as well be executed right away and leave the good ones to get on with it?
This is ludicrous, and I refute it absolutely. I say categorically that she did NOT “deserve” to die in any way shape of form. Her death (which I dot think we still know why or how she died) is an absolute tragedy and the police must face an inquest.
But it is also fair to question whether she was responsible for her own actions or not, and whether she should have been escorted for her own safety.
> Or is it that drunk people are dangerous, so you can’t blame these big, burly policemen for being so terrified of a drunk woman that they didn’t dare let up on the brutality?
a) Drunk people often *are* dangerous. Apparently you have not encountered an angry drunk whose inebriated state makes them combative without normal restraint and self control.
b) Placing her in handcuffs and taking her into custody when she refused to control her behavior is *not* brutality, and your desire to demagogue this is not helping anything.
>
> To me, this is just another example of a sick, judgmental society that completely lacks humanity and is allowed to be controlled by a bunch of airheads with an inferiority complex getting a kick out of putting on a uniform and beating and humiliating people.
I think your bias shows and your comments have to bee seen in that light.
> And to think this nation calls itself Christian! If it wasn’t such a disgrace, it would be comical.
This has nothing to do with anyone considering the US as a Christian nation.
First, thank you Karl. I don’t believe that Carrie’s comments have anything to do with the real issues.
Also, I agree with several of the other comments above. Where was the family? Who was ensuring that this woman got to her destination safely? Certainly not her husband or the other family members who are quick to blame others. How sad that we live in a society where there is no accountability for one’s actions and where so many want to blame others so they can get a free ride through our court system by collecting or settling for money.
It is sad the this woman died, and it is even more how she died, but the blame is not on the police. All you have to do is look at the video and see they were professional especially since they were dealing with a person who was combative. Add to the witnesses stating that she continued shouting as she was lead (not drug) away.
People in this society are so quick to blame the police for using brutality when often it is overlooked that they put their lives on the line with people who have weapons, are violent, or are unstable and often dangerous. And, they do all of this with little pay and criticism instead of thanks. These officers did everything in their power to subdue a woman who very well could have hurt others.
Stop pointing fingers and adding fuel to what was simply a sad accident.
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