We posted the story of Carol Ann Gotbaum a few days ago. The details were sketchy: she missed her flight, became irate, was placed in handcuffs, then placed in a detainment cell, and then wound up dead several minutes later.
The Phoenix police have since released a video of her arrest:
A witness at the scene said,
that Gotbaum was screaming, “I’m not a terrorist! I’m a sick mom! I need help!”
A police officer put his knee in Gotbaum’s back to restrain her while other arresting police grabbed her flailing arms, one worker told the Daily News.
“I believe she was a little not-there,” the worker told the newspaper. “She kept punching. She kept screaming. She kept kicking. She looked really scared, really frightened. I think she was afraid to go to jail.”
Of course her family is simply shocked how she could have killed herself in such a way:
“We have strong concerns about how this 110-pound woman may have ended up strangling herself, given that she was cuffed behind her back and shackled to a bench.”
And not surprisingly, the family’s attorney Michael Manning has doubts too:
“Are you kidding me? You really think it happened this way?”
And he’s not the only one with serious and disturbing doubts:
One officer used a knee to her back. 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. ”
The witnesses that saw her just before she went into the holding tank say she was completely listless and unconscious,” said Manning.
She didn’t appear to be “listless and unconscious” after her arrest in the video above. But there could have been a later incident not shown on the video. The results of autopsies will be released soon. Hopefully we’ll have some concrete answers then.
Any competent – and independent – pathologist who does police work will tell you the easiest way to start someone under arrest on the way to death by asphyxiation is to get them face down – hands cuffed behind their back – and then place your weight on their back.
Their diaphragm is unable to function. They feel themselves smothering and, of course, they start to flail about. So would you.
This is why police departments that weathered lawsuits over people who died in custody like this established appropriate procedures to prevent this – decades ago. None of this is news to PD’s with educated management.
“A police officer put his knee in Gotbaum’s back to restrain her while other arresting police grabbed her flailing arms, one worker told the Daily News.”
Exactly what you’re not supposed to do.
I’m so sick of all these police assholes abusing their power.
We need to kick bush’s ass and these other police-state gansters.
Nothing you two have posted is relevant.
She died in the holding facility way after the arrest.
Still would like to see pictures of the “shackles” that she actually hung herself on “while” in hand cuffs==as best as I can tell from the links elsewhere.
If only Hillary had been there to stop Bush.
RBG
[edit: comments guide]
Maybe they should hire the same psychologist that said that the rape drill MacDonalds’ did to their employee helped her grow as an individual in the end.
http://tinyurl.com/2ecyoc
Sorry, bobbo. You know as little about human anatomy as you do about logic and reason. Or for that matter legal precedence.
That’s OK. The lawsuit is a lock. The family could do an IPO.
I think the police are too abrupt in making arrest and not using common sense. She said “I’m not a terrorist! I’m a sick mom! I need help!” – why would they treat someone this way? I hope their found GUILTY for their
lack of common sense, stupidity and handcuffed as she was.
That is just blatant abuse of power.
Curious…Actually I’ve been wondering if you was mentally ill/and or an alcoholic……WHY IN THE HELL was she traveling by herself?
9. “WHY IN THE HELL was she traveling by herself”
Apparently some people don’t realize how dangerous flying can be. Without even getting on a plane.
#3 bobbo
Nothing you two have posted is relevant.
THINK AGAIN
The Police (just another Gang) version is cover-their-ass BULLSHIT. These PIGS deserve the death penalty.
Surveillance Video: Gotbaum’s Last Moments At Phoenix Airport. Attorney: Police Actions May Have Killed 45-Year-Old
http://wcbstv.com/local/daughter.in.law.2.313342.html
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!'”
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.
11. Thanks. I included that in the post.
yeah, those pictures show a person that obviously can’t breathe. Oh, wait, she’s walking in those pictures. my bad.
What, no picture of Christine Aguillera in cuffs as a teaser for this story?
You’re finally paying attention? You should be ashamed, if you have any shame left at all. Here’s a frightened woman, in a strange place, arrested by the heavy hand of the police. She dies in their custody.
Twits. How about more pictures of kids in leather on Folsom St? Got any more of THAT????!??? How low do you guys stoop to get clicks?
Wow, the cops murder another one. I think that’s what they call collateral damage down at the station house. Now that whites have become fair game for the snuff, don’t even think about looking at a cop the wrong way.
We have all become the enemy.
That’s pure shame. You know, I don’t know how many kids this woman had but as a parent I can’t imagine the suffering her kids must be going through right now. For what? Because she decided to have an attitude? Whatever happened to curtesy, common decensy and regard for human life? I could somehow see if the perp had been a suspicious looking guy but a defenseless 110lb woman? I agree that we need to be on our guard in light of current events but the end result of this arrest just puts lots of doubts about the competency of many in law enforcement. Honestly, I think it weakens them (Law Enforcement) because if this unfortunate event ever ends up in court, then all it’s going to do is make the jobs even harder for the good cops out there to arrest the real fellons. Didn’t these guys have tazers or pepper spray? That first cop looked like he weighed a good 190lbs at least. It was that hard for him to restrain her? Whatever happened in the holding cell we’ll probably never know. But I do find it hard to believe a woman like that would be able to choke her self to death with her hands cuffed behind her back.
Compressional asphyxia huh? So you can be “killed right there” yet be up and resisting walking down the airport corridors and not actually BE dead until an hour later but the most probable event causing death was compressional asphyxia? You are right, I don’t know that.
Seems to me, she most likely hung herself by accident trying to squirrel around in the holding cell.
Could the cops have killed her and they are covering it up? Possible, not likely. These are cops dealing with a handcuffs woman in an airport. Don’t see the normal bad cop motivation elements there.
Do cops abuse their authority?? Yes, all the time. Does this encourage knee jerk activists to cry foul at “every arrest.” Yes, all the time. Good job!!
Yes, and No.
I always warn my wife that if she is ever in contact with the police to remember that most of them are ex-military. There trained to kill. Do as they say, talk about it later because if give them a hard time, this is what happens. We’ll see how this story pans out over the next few weeks.
Yeah we’ll get to see how it pans out. To bad she won’t.
Bobbo… do you have a problem with reading comprehension or something, or do you just not pay attention at all?
I’m curious, because there has to be a reason that you’re not understanding what people are saying, and I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt by assuming it’s not willful stupidity….
You don’t need new facts to surface to realize there is something seriously wrong with this case. People don’t just die. You all have made it how many years without managing to strangle yourselves. If a smart person such as yourself just up and died out of the blue it would be a pretty freaky acciden; if it happened while someone else was responsible for your every movement then there are some serious questions.
And I don’t believe for a second that there isn’t a square inch of that concourse (much less the detention area) without continuous and permanent video surveillance recordings.
Try these little experiments:
1) Put your wrists together behind your back, then try to get them anywhere near your throat without moving your wrists apart.
2) With your wrists together behind your back, try wrapping anything around your throat.
Nuff said?
just few comments from well-educated supposedly normal people in the office:
Its in the news because its white lady, if she was black it would never made any news
/black guy/
one jew less
/palestinian guy/
f***ing pigs killed her no doubt
/white guy/
none of my business
/white guy/
and so on… virtually no one cares, and neither most of you.
22–Gregory, I’m interested. what do you mean?
If you can phrase what it is you think I’m not understanding, I will respond as best I can.
When people of intelligence and good will disagree, it is usually because it is a question of taste or values, or, they are assuming different facts.
I’m curious as to the source of your disparagement?
Maybe two guards @ her cell made a bet to how many tases she could take before passing out, and both ended up losing.
23. “People don’t just die”
Sorry, people do “just die” everyday. You’ll “just die” and I’ll “just die.” Nobody lives forever dude.
“You all have made it how many years without managing to strangle yourselves”
Considering I’ve never been placed in handcuffs and then tried to get out of handcuffs… that’s probably the reason it never happened to me. It’s just a guess.
“And I don’t believe for a second that there isn’t a square inch of that concourse (much less the detention area) without continuous and permanent video surveillance recordings.”
I totally agree. That’s the video I want to see.
Gee, maybe you should’nt act like a freak in a airport. What did she think was going to happen? It’s awful how people react anymore when they don’t get their way. If she had controlled herself better this would have been a non story. People need to get a grip on the downfalls of life.
The death of Carol Ann Gotbaum is absolutely heartbreaking. I have tried to imagine how the victim could get the chain from behind her back and under her chin.
On top of the Tanya Rider incident and the Florida student who was tazered, one has to conclude that there is soemthing very rotten at the heart of american law enforcement.
This poor woman, slight in build and a mom, possibly suffering from major withdrawal symptoms, had taken the wonderful decision to go for treatment. And on missing her flight, got agitated, and was jumped by several burly ‘law enforcers’. What is it with american cop violence? Are they not there to be a force for good? Why do they have to be so aggressive.
Unfortunately in the law suits that I imagine will follow such a death, it will be the american taxpayer who foots the bill. These officers need to be dismissed from the force. And the regulations need to be changed.
You don’t jump on someone with health issues, truss them up, and then leave them alone.
For heaven’s sake, over here in the UK you can’t light up a cigarette in a public place (like an airport or you’re liable to a 5,000 dollar fine. Why is it ok to allow seven hefty badge-wearers to wrestle and truss up a small lady with major health issues….and leave her alone, despite her being in very obvious distress.
This is absolutely scandalous. There is something very rotten at the heart of American society.
Jesus, If this keeps up we are not going to be able to find anyone to be police officers.
It is not easy to restrain a crazy person.
If they restrain her and she gets hurt the officers are screwed.
If they leave her alone to go batshit up and down the terminal until she launches her crazy ass through a plate glass window (or hurts someone else), the officers are screwed.
They should give them the big nets on poles like in the cartoons.