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Gotbaum's Husband Tried 3 Times To Warn Phoenix P.D. Of Wife's Condition

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Oct 6, 2007 8:40 am US/Eastern

Gotbaum's Husband Tried 3 Times To Warn Phoenix P.D. Of Wife's Condition

Warned Dispatcher: 'This Woman Is Suicidal'

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NEW YORK (CBS) ― Carol Anne Gotbaum's husband begged his wife. At virtually the same moment that police were arresting her, he was on the phone, pleading with airport operators to handle her with "kid gloves" because she was suicidal.

However, as CBS 2 HD has learned his desperate calls for help fell on deaf ears.

Gotbaum's family prepared for her funeral at an Upper West Side synagogue on Friday, but the way she died continued to fan criticism.

Transcripts of her husband's frantic phone calls to the airport once again raise a question: Why did police treat his wife as a criminal and not as a medical emergency case?

CBS 2 HD spoke by phone with Noah Gotbaum on Friday. He said he's too overwhelmed with his wife's death to speak publicly. He said he's spending his time planning his wife's funeral, a week to the day of her death.

But the transcripts of his calls are disturbing. They show he tried at least three times to warn police that his wife had emotional problems.

"It's important that they call me," he said. "This woman is suicidal."

"Unfortunately, they're still doing the investigation or whatever," the dispatcher replied.

He grew more desperate in a second call.

"She sounds like she's in the middle of having a nervous breakdown," Noah Gotbaum said.

"Okay," replies the dispatcher.

He called yet again.

"She is alcohol abusive," he said. "They're not dealing with someone who's been just drinking on flight."

"We passed along that information," he was told.

"Well, but, again, I have not heard anything back," he replied

The Phoenix Police Department has insisted that it didn't know Carol Anne Gotbaum was anything but a disruptive passenger.

"We had no information she was suicidal," Lt. Andy Hill said.

Observers say it's a crucial issue:

"If the officers on the scene knew about it, knew the information and ignored it, it would've been not proper," retired NYPD Capt. Edward Mamet said.

If they had known, they might not have left her alone in a holding room, where she died. The Phoenix police have said she strangled herself on a restraining chain.

Meanwhile, the family's own forensic pathologist complains the Phoenix medical examiner is withholding evidence from him, including Carol Anne Gotbaum's brain, heart and neck organs.

A spokesperson for the medical examiner told CBS 2 HD, however, they are free to examine the organs at their facility.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.