October 5, 2007

Phoenix Airport surveillance video of Gotbaum’s arrest supports police account

Posted by LSU @ 12:42 am

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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  1. On October 6, 2007 at 10:46 am, Playin' Possum wrote:

    "The media hopped all over this tape, but it honestly shows little and supports the police account more then not."…
     
    In a pig’s eye…

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