Oct 1, 2007 2:21 pm US/Eastern
Woman Dies Inside Arizona Airport Holding Cell
Autopsy: Did She Accidentally Choke Herself To Death?
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Carol Anne Gotbaum, stepdaughter-in-law of New York City public advocate Betsy Gotbaum, died while in police custody at the airport in Phoenix, Ariz.
CBS
It is one of the strangest explanations ever offered for a death in police custody -- that a woman with her hands cuffed behind her could somehow end up with the cuffs around her neck.
Now a famous New York family is searching for answers, and an autopsy will reveal whether Carol Anne Gotbaum, stepdaughter-in-law of New York's public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, died from accidental strangulation or if something else may have triggered her death.
On Sunday, Betsy Gotbaum, who was also once the city's parks commissioner, was grim faced when she met the cameras to address the tragic circumstances. Carol Gotbaum was found dead in a Phoenix airport holding cell apparently from struggling with her handcuffs after being detained by airport police in Phoenix on Friday.
"This has been a horrible tragedy for my family, for my stepson and my three grandchildren," Betsy Gotbaum said.
The incident happened at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Friday when Carol Anne, a 45-year-old wife and mother of three small children, apparently arrived late at the gate for a US Airways flight to Tucson and argued to be allowed on board.
Police were summoned.
"We received a report of someone yelling and screaming and acting disorderly in the terminal," said Andy Hill of the Phoenix Police Department. "Apparently a 45-year-old woman was denied access to a flight."
She was handcuffed by officers and taken to a holding cell inside the airport, where officers said she continued to throw a fit.
Just 30 minutes later, officers found her unresponsive in an airport holding room.
"Within five to 10 minutes she was alone and she had been yelling and screaming, but when the officer recognized that her yelling and screaming stopped they went to check on her," Hill told CBS 2.
A police spokesman theorized she "tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, got tangled up in the process and they ended up around her neck," -- an inexplicable turn of events, according to the family.
Still, Hill would not speculate the exact cause of death, asking whether other substances in her body may have played a part in her becoming unconscious, leading to her death.
"Carol was a wonderful, wonderful person. She was a wonderful mother. She was sweet and kind and loving. At this moment we are waiting the results of the investigation," Betsy Gotbaum said. "We don't know any more than has been reported on the press."
Other passengers at the airport can understand part of the police story, but part where the woman died raises serious questions.
"If somebody is making a ruckus, causing a problem, they should be taken away, but I don't know that they should be put in cuffs," one passenger told CBS 2.
Carol Anne Gotbaum lived in a townhouse on the Upper West Side. She had been married to Noah Gotbaum for 12 years. She was a native of South Africa and the daughter of the retired naval commander. Her father-in-law is Victor Gotbaum, the retired labor leader.
The medical examiner in Phoenix is conducting an autopsy.
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