Noah Gotbaum is an imbicile.

He couldn't find anyone to travel with her while she was alive, but now he and anyone else he can find is coming out of the woodwork to assign blame. Maybe she was such a pain in the butt nobody wanted to go with her, maybe he was glad to see her go, but now he sees her corpse as his 'meal ticket'.

Too bad. Darwin was right - thin the herd.

Very sad for her children. Whether she was an alcoholic or not, her kids will surely miss their mom and her husband is now a single dad. Hopefully the family will be able to heal from this tragic event. If she was killed accidentally, I'm sure the police feel horrible about the situation and will have to live with it the rest of their lives. I do believe the police should have called a psychiatrist to help this troubled lady.

Condolensces to her family and friends. I hope she is in a better place than the one she was left in to die.

I wonder why Noah could only afford to live with his brother's family while married to Carol and having a family of his own. Then they moved to a rental? They were being tossed out of the rental in the same month that Carol was sent to rehab?

Where is Noah's responsibility to his family?

And where is his family's responsibility to him?

They can't afford to live in NYC, and yet the moment a family tragedy happens they can turn around and hire expensive lawyers, doctors, and others to proceed with a law suit?

I looked up Noah's company. Reported sales are not that high for a NY investment firm.

Why was Noah gone all week working in Colorado?

Priorities seem to be out of order.

Seems the family has more to account for than they would like uncovered.

I am not from Arizona. I live in New Jersey. I watched the tapes and read the comments.

The bruises on Carol Gotbaum's arms happened when the police were taking her to the cell and she resisted. That's it. That is not manhandling or beating or any of the other silly things that people are accusing the police of doing to her at the airport.

I understand why the Gotbaum family is desperately seeking to blame others for the tragedy. Step-mother-in-law Betsy wants to run for Mayor and needs to keep up the reputation of the family name.

If she really wanted to do what is right then they would admit that they made a mistake by trusting Carol Gotbaum to take this trip alone and should have had a family member, friend, or caretaker with her.

If I did live in NYC there is no way I would want Betsy Gotbaum in charge of anything. Based on her actions in this sad situation, she will do anything in her power to direct attention away from her or her kin's responsibility, and will use all of her power and money to blame others.

Nice job.

How many others do you drive into the ground to make yourself look okay?

It is very easy to scapegoat police. How does any one can expect that she has so many complications?

I feel the responsibility of her death is entirely due to her husband. He made so many statements about how she could be handled better by police.

How can he let a person so fragile go by herself on an Airplane? He obviously didn't care or not aware of her condition. How can we expect the same from Law enforcement?

My first guess as to why she threw such a temper tantrum at the airport and was subsequently arrested is that while flying on the flight from New York to Phoenix, she had a few drinks. How would the airline have known she was on her way to rehab in Tucson. SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE FLOWN WITH HER. We are not talking about a short distance from New York to Tucson. Entering rehab is scary and I am sure she had way too much time on her hands thinking about it all the way from New York.

Six people have died in handcuffs while in custody in Phoenix this year. Five last. This suggests that there is something wrong with their procedures. They deserve scrutiny and bad publicity. As does the airline, US Air, about which there have been many complaints.

There is also an ongoing investigation about widespread illegal steroid use in the Phoenix police dept.

Life is cheap in Bush-Cheney land.

Reading some of the dumb comments people leave makes me really wonder about this country. In a way though it explains the sad state we are in. Seems like so many people always take the side of authority and think no punisment is too severe for making a scene of some kind. I guess such ignorance is reflected in the terrible media we have and the awful administration of bush.

Police brutality at airports is out of control. Especially when the police beat up/kill young women and mothers. This is similar to the police beating of the young woman at Reagan National Airport in DC except she suffered brain damage and is still alive. My thoughts and prayers go out to Carol Ann Gotbaum's family. http://youtube.com/watch?v=XPNmxZwhMag

RehabNurs. Well said. This is a tragedy, but it seems like both the family & the police dropped the ball. I don't know much about rehab, but I notice on the show Intervention, they always have someone accompany the person to rehab. Is that standard practice? Do the facilities advise the family of that?

@102

TSA screeners rececive a huge amount of training. A great deal of them have advanced education, or multiple degrees. In certain places in the country, where there aren't good jobs with benefits, these very (over)educated people jumped on jobs when the TSA screening too effect. Sounds crazy, but it is true. But by the same token, That said there are also tons of petty, inarticulate, lazy people who had some skills that got them the job and through the training (which is a "weeding out" process) and who unfortunately give the TSA a bad reputation. I'm guessing these are the people who are the "janiters" with whom you've "interfaced."

So don't go lumping in TSA screeners with the cops. When TSA people encounter hostile, aggressive or drunk people attempting to enter the airport in the secured zone, they have to make the call to the police to deal with it. TSA screeners do not deal with these people, cops do. TSA and cops are not the same.

A question no one seems to be asking: what was such a special woman, from such a special family, doing on a commercial flight int he first place?

Ok. Here's what I don't get. At THIS point anyway, we DO have video showing erratic and inappropriate public behavior. Yes, she may have been unwell, but that hardly translates into a mandate that everyone, but her, is responsible for her well-being. If she was so unwell as to risk such behavior, contributing factors extend to the decision for independent, unaccompanied travel in the first place (let alone her own culpability for her own disease). So, we DO know that her reaction to whatever was said to her was irrational and justified interventiton. It appears that talking to her didn't help, and restraint/detention was a very reasonable next course.

Now, I'm neither a contortionist or forensic analyst of ANY sort, but as implausible as the whole choking scenario may be, one other piece is missing. MOTIVE. Why on earth would they have purposely choked her to death? There's simply no reason to speculate any foul play in the absence of all information being fully presented.

I mean, Jesus, at what point are people responsible for themselves at ALL anymore? "Screaming" may not necessarily equate to hysteria, as I'm sure any correctional employee could attest. If she was, indeed, intent on behaving in such a manner and either intentionally or carelessly placing her own life at risk, I have a VERY hard time adopting a stance of suspicion by default. (And YES, I happen to be a card carrying ACLU member and support AI as well.)

SOMETIMES, people place themselves on a self-destructive path and the consequences are tragic. AND, like parents who expect society to be responsible to protect their children in lieu of actual parenting themselves, all too often it seems like the MUST be someone ELSE to blame for a third party's stupidity or assinine behavior, no matter how tragic the outcome.

Even despite my inability to imagine the scenario of her death as described, my own moral scorecard of the officers is going to read "clear" unless, and until, there is CLEAR and incontravertibe evidence that someone ELSE should be more responsible than the late Ms. Gotbaum for her own demise. And no, the mere implication of responsibility being thrust upon the police just doesn't cut it.

Gotbaum's alleged stalker comments on this situation

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NoPoliceStateCoalition/message/6197

Check out the video posted at the top of this story showing how a person CAN get handcuffed hands to the front by going over the head: http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/189581.php

It IS physically possible.

Regardless, I've been in the area when people have ranted like this woman did, and as a fellow passenger, I was very happy I didn't have to be on the plane with that person. Yes, that woman paid for her seat, but so did every other person around her. What gives her the right to throw a fit and demand better treatment than anyone else. People who travel often know to plan the extra time. If you don't want to deal with the "hassles" of flying, then drive or take a train... there are options.

My condolences for her family, though - those poor children are now without a mom. I wonder if they're growing up with the same sense of entitlement?

another story of dumb & dangerous cops, trying to compensate their missing intelligence with rude behaviour, protected by their uniform. very sad for this country, for this happens more and more.

Obviously, this woman was having some sort of episode. Was it just bad behavior or was it medically-related? Well, the local authorities should have defaulted to medical until they knew better. I don't have a problem with them restraining her, I saw the video,and she seemed to be out of control...

That being said, many of the folks on the floor for TSA are not...professionals. Many I've interfaced with seem like janitors, have little training, are generally (and I'm stereotyping here folks) ....disappointing representatives of the US Government.

They should have someone observe her, and someone such as EMT sedate her. If she is crazy (in the temporary sense) call in a nurse/EMT and give her some happy juice in the arm and put her into dream land. Let her "choke" on her handcuffs? Many people should be fired for incompetence, and her family will, quote me on this folks, will get some serious coin from Phoenix. Though, I personally think that will not change the system and incompetents who run this system. Privatize it.

As a guest (...because I have too many passwords in my life as it is and I am too lazy to register for anything new)I would like to say that I really don't get all the hatred and the weird religious stuff posted by my fellow guests. What is the point? What is wrong with you people?

The truth is, she/her behaviour did bring the situation on herself....but no one deserves to die because they are a childish person. I suspect the toxology report will tell us what was in her bloodstream that fueled all of this. If she had made the first flight, which was her fault, none of this would have happened. I suspect the cops left her in restraints to keep her calmer and to keep her frm hurting herself - which didn't really work.

Just a very sad situation.

Apparently she needed supervision to get to detox, it's too bad no one accompanied her there.

And I have seen a violent encounter with the police having to drag someone out - and frankly, you never know what they are on, if they will attack someone - so unless you have seen this, don't call brutality or overkill. Restraint is nesc.

Well, people this sounded fishy to me also....

however I have some experiences which you do not.

First, I have been a nurse for over 30 yrs with much of that spent in ICU and Surgical ICU/ Recovery.

Also, I have experience with alcoholics going into withdrawal (as well as other substance abusers), going back to the earliest days in my career.

If this woman was, as her family said, enroute to a rehab facility for her alcohol abuse, then she was most likely in withdrawal and in severe medical crisis. The biggest mistake the police made was that they did not call 911 for medical assessment of her. It's easy to 'assume' that people running around acting crazy and threatening are crazy.

Wouldn't you?

However when something like this happens they need a medical opinion or counselor in there.

The woman was likely too agitated to explain exactly what she needed.

Also, police probably have a policy of calling for medical assistance only if the person asks for it.

In any case, anyone can died of alcohol withdrawal ALONE. She also might have died of the effects of withdrawal combined with physical trauma 1)her own physical violence and probable injury to self in the cell due to her agitation and desperation, 2)possible injury due to rough handling.

I repeat, she could have died even without ANY interference from anyone, but her outburst (which she had no control over) was an indirect cause, especially since she was in a place where outbursts and crazy behavior are dangerous.

The big tragedy here is, this could have been prevented two ways:

1) Family sending people (adults, adolescents) to detox need to send an escort to be sure they are OK! Why did they or her doctor not realize she could go into withdrawals on the long trip, esp considering flight delays?

2) Police esp transportation people need to ask, "Why is this person who looks sane, behaving in a crazy way - could it be a medical problem?"

Even if it's not policy they could have asked for a medical opinion, and had her taken to hospital.

So sorry this happened, esp when she was seeking help. I wish that a family member had flown with her and this could have been prevented.