Phoenix offers settlement in airport death case

[bemildred]

Source: AP

PHOENIX — Phoenix has proposed a $250,000 settlement to the family of a New York City woman who accidentally strangled herself while in police custody two years ago at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

In a statement Monday, the Phoenix Police Department maintained its officers acted properly and acknowledged that the offer is just a fraction of the original $8 million negligence claim sought by Carol Ann Gotbaum's three young children.

City officials said no taxpayer money will be spent on the settlement, which still needs to be approved by a New York court.

Gotbaum, 45, was the step-daughter-in-law of outgoing New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jxzivDTW8NqczXt0dusJ2ZJLuttwD9BEESOO1

[MajorChode]

1. Unfortunately I doubt the family will accept it

By the time their legal bills are paid and the family divides up the rest, there won't be much left and since they have their eyes on that $8 million prize, I doubt they will be satisfied.

[bemildred]

2. I'm just wondering how you "accidentally strangle yourself" in police custody.

Apparently with your own restraints, I'm assuming. Is this a common sort of thing?

I would not be satisfied.

[DesertRat]

3. Details from the Arizona Republic:

"When she missed her connecting flight, she began drinking at an airport bar.

After a gate agent told her that she couldn't use another passenger's boarding pass to get on a flight because of security reasons, she threw her Blackberry and ran through the airport while screaming that she wasn't a terrorist.

Police confronted and arrested her, and minutes after she was put in a holding cell, she died.

The county medical examiner said Gotbaum, who was severely intoxicated and taking antidepressants, accidentally strangled herself with her shackles."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/10/19/20091019gotbaum1019-ON.html

[MajorChode]

6. I guess it helps if you have enough drink and drugs in you to kill a horse

The medical examiner ruled it an accident and even the family's hired expert who witnessed the autopsy agreed.

[bemildred]

12. I don't usually think of drink and drugs as giving me extra strength and agility.

Sleep and stuff, feebleness, is what I think of with drink and drugs, especially when carried to excess.

The families hired expert I have to pay some attention to, do you have more on that?

[MajorChode]

16. That's probably exactly why she died

While trying to escape from her shackles she probably got into a predicament that the drugs and alcohol prevented her from undoing. It didn't require strength and agility to get into that situation, but it required at least a marginal amount to get out.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/1113gotbaum1113.html

[TorchTheWitch]

41. that's what the autopsy report said

That the substances she consumed contributed to her death.

[WriteDown]

34. Remember the Benadryl lesson..

Sometimes sleepy. Sometimes wired!

[paulsby]

15. here is the full text of the phoenix police statement in regards to her death

(note: this is more than 4 paragraphs, but as a release from a law enforcement agency, there are no copyright concerns. public domain)

the autopsy is consistent the fact pattern below. i can try to find a link for it, but it's been a while since i read it.



On Friday, Sept. 29, 2007, Ms. Gotbaum flew unescorted and alone to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. She was supposed to then fly to Tucson. Per the airline, Ms. Gotbaum was denied access to that flight in Terminal 4. There was a subsequent verbal altercation at the gate in Concourse B between Ms. Gotbaum and the gate attendant. Ms. Gotbaum became agitated and loud and at some point threw her hand-held PDA, just missing a citizen, which broke into pieces. Ms. Gotbaum left the gate area.

At approximately 2:49 p.m. Phoenix police officers working at the airport received a radio call of a woman being loud and disturbing at Concourse B of Terminal 4. The officers responded and located Ms. Gotbaum on the Concourse area. This was a secure area of the airport, an area where everyone had already cleared the T.S.A. security checkpoint. There were a number of witnesses there. Before the officers contacted Ms. Gotbaum, they heard her yelling and observed her actions. They then contacted Ms. Gotbaum and did try to calm her down, but she continued to yell and scream. Within approximately 15 seconds of contacting her, they were joined by a third officer and attempted to arrest her for disorderly conduct by disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor offense. The arrest time was approximately 2:53 p.m.

Ms. Gotbaum did not want to be arrested, and the officers and Ms. Gotbaum ended up on the floor as they tried to handcuff her. No one got hurt, and the officers did not use pepper spray or a Taser. The officers then picked Ms. Gotbaum up on her feet and two officers then began to escort her to a holding area. Ms. Gotbaum was handcuffed with her hands behind her back, per Phoenix Police Department policy. Ms. Gotbaum was still uncooperative and the officers had to periodically slide her forward with one officer holding each arm in order to get her to the holding area.

At the holding area office in Terminal 4 Ms. Gotbaum was placed in a holding room, which is a small room with a solid door and a small window. There were approximately seven police employees in the holding area office at the time. A female officer came over to do the search. (Incidentally, just the day before, this officer had saved a life at the airport with an AED.) While being searched, Ms. Gotbaum continued to be uncooperative and did not allow herself to be searched. Ms. Gotbaum was then additionally restrained as follows: In the holding room there is a bench with an “eyehook” attached to it. The officers took a “shackle,” which is described as a metal chain, approximately 16 inches long, with a large “handcuff” on each side. The total length of the chain with handcuffs is approximately 24 inches. One of the handcuffs on the “shackle” was attached to the “eyehook” on the bench. The other handcuff of the shackle was attached to the chain of the handcuffs that were already on Ms. Gotbaum’s hands. So Ms. Gotbaum was handcuffed with her hands behind her back, and additionally those handcuffs were attached to a shackle that kept her attached to the bench.

At this time, officers felt due to their experience and the actions that had taken place Ms. Gotbaum was not a threat to others or to herself. (Had Ms. Gotbaum been deemed to be a threat to herself, per Phoenix police policy, she would have been monitored by an officer. As it was, Phoenix police policy states that prisoners can be alone in holding rooms and checked on once every 15 minutes.) Ms. Gotbaum was simply being loud and uncooperative.

Officers had no information at this time that Ms. Gotbaum had traveled unescorted and alone from New York City to Phoenix in order to seek treatment for a substance-abuse issue as was later released by others. Again, officers were totally unaware of this information.

At that point officers left the holding room and went to the holding office just outside the holding room. Ms. Gotbaum continued to yell and scream. Investigators told me that they have determined definitively that Ms. Gotbaum was alone for six to eight minutes. She continued to be loud. When she stopped the officers went to check on her. Again, this took place in the six- to eight-minute time frame that Ms. Gotbaum was alone in the holding room.

The officers found Ms. Gotbaum unconscious. Initial information as reported previously indicated that Ms. Gotbaum had somehow worked the handcuffs to the front of her body, probably from under her legs, and had pulled the chain from the shackle across her neck area. Again, the medical examiner will determine the manner and cause of death.

The officers immediately called for the fire department, removed the handcuffs and shackle, and began life saving measures to try to save Ms. Gotbaum. The officers began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR. While doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Ms. Gotbaum vomited into one officer’s mouth. The officer spit up himself but continued to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while CPR continued. The officers also attempted to use an AED. Several minutes later the Fire Department arrived and took over the life-saving attempts. These continuous attempts did not work, and Ms. Gotbaum was pronounced dead by the Fire Department personnel at approximately 3:29 p.m.

Officers did everything they could to save the life of a citizen. The officers had no knowledge of any of Ms. Gotbaum’s personal issues. They had not been apprised of any calls from the family to the airport seeking to locate Ms. Gotbaum. The officers involved were obviously saddened by Ms. Gotbaum’s death. According to the Phoenix Aviation Department, the Phoenix police airport officers and Phoenix Firefighters have saved at least 17 lives using the AEDs since they came into use at Sky Harbor Airport in December 2000.

As in any in custody death, the Phoenix Police Department Homicide Unit conducts an investigation and the Phoenix Police Department Professional Standards Bureau conducts a separate internal investigation. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner conducts an investigation as well.

As in any other incident, the Phoenix Police Department will review all findings and evaluate any considerations for training issues or policy changes.

The Phoenix Police Department believes there may still be witnesses who have not come forward. If any of you come across a witness, please ask them if they have contacted the Phoenix Police Department. If they are true witnesses, we want them to call the Phoenix Police Department Violent Crimes Bureau desk at [phone].

Thank you all for your patience. Taking the time to do a thorough and proper investigation benefits all of us in the community to ensure the integrity of the investigative process.

[The abyss]

17. Thank you Paulsby!

That is a response I can respect.

It was still the responsibility of the enforcement people that this suspect be alive and well to meet her charges. On that note they failed.

I’m still not convinced that she wasn't “choked –out” from shear spite and frustration.

[bemildred]

18. So she has a 16" chain connected to handcuffs behind her back.

And she gets her feet through the handcuffs, and somehow that gets the chain around her neck and that asphyxiates her? Is that the story?

[MajorChode]

23. Sounds like it

I'm sure the ME's report has more information, but I haven't seen that posted online anywhere.

[TorchTheWitch]

30. The chain wasn't around her neck

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/a-new-yorkers-puzzling-death-in-phoenix/
The chain was not wrapped around her neck. It was pulled against the front of her neck area.


So, it appears that the front of her neck was leaning against the chain, and she sufficated by her own body weight cutting off her airway.

[bemildred]

47. Ah, she pressed her own neck into the chain.

While the chain was connected to a bench and to handcuffs on both her wrists. And the police personnel, of course, have no reason to dissemble what happened, they would never lie, they serve only the truth.

[TorchTheWitch]

54. autopsy backs up what police described

Are you now going to suggest that the medical examiner also lied and so did the examiner that the family hired? And that the family's attorney would advise them that they should settle for this paltry amount of money knowing that the police, the state med examiner AND the family's own examiner all conspired to lie about the chain being around her neck??? And that the family's attorney was also in on the conspiracy??? Do you realize how totally absurd that is?

Look, it's obvious that for whatever reason you really want it to be that the chain was around her neck and for whatever reason the police lied about it, but in order to believe that you also have to believe that both the state examiner and the family's examiner were in on the conspiracy, the family's attorney was in on it and the family was in on it as well. The family was angry that her death was defined as death by hanging because the chain was NOT around her neck and she was not suspended in the air and they didn't want anyone to believe that was the case when it wasn't. As it turns out, death by "hanging" is a medical term that merely describes a death caused by the person's airway being cut off, and the family was angry about this "hanging" definition because they didn't want anyone to believe that she purposely strangled herself.

The police, both medical examiners, the family and the family's attorney all agree that the chain was NOT around her neck just as the police described, but noooooooo you want to believe that it was around her neck and the police lied about that and EVERYONE including the family and the family's attorney were all in on this lying conspiracy all because you want soooooo badly to believe the police lied on this point and nevermind how utterly and completely STUPID that is given the fact that EVERYONE involved in the case agrees with the police that the chain was not around her neck.

[bemildred]

57. Terriffic. nt

[Indenturedebtor]

31. If you've ever been the subject of a police report you know that

this is likely 50% outright lies, and 75% of the story remains untold.

That said she probably did strangle herself, AND there was probably no damn good reason to shackle her to the wall.

[MajorChode]

36. So what exactly is a good reason to shackle someone to a wall?

If they are going ape shit wild to the extent they are likely to damage something or themselves (as she was), is that not a good enough reason?

Even though the officers took reasonable precautions she still managed to prove Darwin right, so that pretty much goes to show there was a valid reason for doing so.

This woman was about 1 jigger of cheap vodka or one more pill from death anyway. Had they not shackled her down it's quite possible (and far more likely) that she would have worked herself into an even bigger frenzy and died from that alone. Then the family would have sued because the police did NOT shackle her to the wall and they would have had an even better frivolous lawsuit.

[paulsby]

39. the cops are always wrong

that's why there was no good reason to shackle her. i have learned to make that assumption when responding to DU posts such as the previous one. it helps me understand the logic. :sarcasm:

in all seriousness, it's a sad case.

iow, i agree with you.

[WatchWhatISay]

25. Three young children

Lets say the average age of each child is 5 yrs old. Thats 39 child years to support them till they turn 18. Even if they got all the money without any lawyers fees or any other deductions, thats $6,666 per year per child to support them. Of course the attorneys in the case do deserve to be paid for their work, so it will actually amount to a lot less. Besides the emotional trauma of these kids having to grow up without there mother, they will are limited to a small amount of restitution, which after inflation, amounts to close to nothing. And they can forget going to college - thats just not in the budget. So I ask you . . .

That seem fair to you?

[SDuderstadt]

26. Since it was not PHX's fault...

I'd say yeah.

[Theobald]

33. She is dead through her own negligence so why should I have to pay to support her children?

Why do the attorneys deserve to be paid? They probably took the case on a contingency basis; I wouldn't award her family anything, and conversly I wouldn't award them anything.

They can forget about college? My parents didn't pay for my college and I still managed to attend 3 different ones on my own dime (I actually didn't graduate from any of them, but that is another story). All of my siblings, and there are many, paid for their own college (a few community colleges, a couple of state schools, a few private religous schools, and one even made it to Yale) (all of them graduated).

[WriteDown]

35. Probably would have helped if their mom wasn't boozing

and throwing blackberries. Running through the airport screaming was a nice touch though.

[Locus Ceruleus]

38. Loaded is only way to get to rehab

The airport, only place you can get arrested if you happen to "look" intoxicated.

By the way, why are they serving booze in airports in the first place? Would we have heard of her if she weren't related to the NYC ombudsperson?

[MajorChode]

46. They serve booze at the airport because not everyone has a drinking problem

The vast majority of people who do drink have one or two and that's it. I sometimes get laid over at airports for hours. It would kind of suck if I couldn't get an overpriced cocktail in a restaurant or a bar because a small minority have an alcohol addiction and an even smaller minority of those go ape shit when they drink.

[MajorChode]

45. This is the way it seems to me

They should have gotten nothing.

That would have been "fair."

The attorney should be disbarred for convincing the family they had a case to begin with.

That would have been "fair."

Someone should have kicked the husband's ass.

That would have been "fair."

So to answer your question. No, it doesn't seem fair to me.

YMMV.

[The abyss]

4. Settle! I would hope never

Yes, from the video supplied at the time the woman appeared to be very agitated.

But that does not and never did explain how she supposedly strangled herself, with restraints attached, while held in an interrogation room all alone.

Murder. Direct or accidental? One way or the other - Murder by the State.

[saracat]

5. I remember this and frankly, she shouldn't have been permitted to attempt to fly by the family.

They "knew" she was in no condition to be "out" let alone attempting to fly.And I think from what I observed, it isn't impossible she did strangle herself.Weird but true.:shrug:

[The abyss]

7. It doesn’t matter if she “should” have been out & about.

Once in custody, it is the responsibility of the “enforcement agency” to keep you healthy and wise for your upcoming date with a judge.

Frankly, I think she was “choked – out” and killed by someone once behind the security doors. They dumped her in a holding area waiting the arrival of street officers. Once they checked on her it became an Oh-Hell situation.

The rest is a state sponsored a fairy tale.

[saracat]

9. I agree but I am not so sure she was "done in" by anyone other than herself.

that being said, they should have watched her to ensure she didn't harm herself as she was unstable.But the family wanting to make big bucks on this when it seems they dikdn't care to begin with seems kind of icky to me.

[SDuderstadt]

10. And your proof of this is???? n/t

[MajorChode]

11. On what basis did you form your hypothesis?

Perhaps an irrational fear of law enforcement?

Do you think the medical examiner and the family's expert are in on the conspiracy or do you think they are just too grossly incompetent to tell the difference between someone who was murdered and someone who strangled themselves with their shackles?

[The abyss]

13. Just a freaky accident.

Of that I’m sure!

[MajorChode]

14. I'll take that as option #1

[TheMadMonk]

20. Have you any idea how much like certain media blowhards you sound?

FFS don't ever get yourself arrested or even ticketed. Seems like you are so determined that all coppers are c*nts, that you would keep pushing until you had your way, a face full of pepper spray and a body full of volts.

[MajorChode]

8. So now every freak accident has to be someone's fault?

I guess the thing to do would be to have the manpower available to watch over each and every prisoner that has to be shackled down because they are going ape shit nuts for no good reason. That certainly seems prudent given the 1 in a Brazilian chance something like this would happen. So if we spend billions on this endeavor nationwide it would all be worth it because you never know if something like this is going to happen again in the next 30-50 years or so. Meanwhile some areas of the country have an infant mortality rate that rivals 3rd world countries and the only thing those babies did wrong was expect the opportunity to see their 1st birthday.

Makes perfect sense to me.

[TorchTheWitch]

19. Read the article - the family settled for $250,000

Far less than the 8 million they were asking. It wasn't murder, she killed herself either accidently or on purpose.

[The abyss]

21. I sure haven’t settled my opinion

Murder in my eyes.


Murder in the custody of the state.

[MajorChode]

24. Geez, the family doesn't even think that

[Seldona]

27. Agreed, murder.

They need a better lawyer. It amazes me how conditioned people are to accepting shit like this. They aren't even claiming she was a threat to anyone. She was arrested on a bs charge, which would likely have resulted in a dismissal or a fine, and she is DEAD! How does that not get through some people's thick fucking skulls?

[SDuderstadt]

28. This is fucking unbelievable....

murder? Jesus.

[Theobald]

37. Please explain your outlandish statement!

"She was arrested on a BS charge"

What BS charge was that? Please explain what is bullshit about arresting someone who is drunk and belligerant in an airport?

[MajorChode]

22. The article wasn't exaclty clear if the deal was closed

The husband seems willing to settle, but I wasn't sure if he's the only family member involved. I thought I read somewhere that he was estranged from her so there were other relatives involved in the lawsuit. Perhaps that's not accurate.

At any rate the city said it was going to cost them at least 3 times that much to defend the case, so they must have been pretty confident in their case. It's a shame they had to pay them anything at all, but that's just the system of jackpot justice we live under.

[TorchTheWitch]

29. he's the only adult

http://az.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.%5CFDCT%5CDAZ%5C2008%5C20081017_0001638.DAZ.htm/qx

The kids and her estate are the plaintiffs, but since the kids are underage, he's sueing on their behalf and on behalf of the estate. I find it kind of strange that he didn't also sue on his own behalf as her husband, but if they were estranged that's probably why.

The city isn't paying out of taxes... the insurance company is paying.

I agree that the family doesn't deserve a dime, but this is what happens... the entity being sued would rather shell out some money to settle the case to avoid spending more than the settlement offer in continuing to defend the case. Seeing as the husband was willing to settle for $250,000 when he sued for 8 million, he had a really crappy case and knew it. I doubt the defendants wanted to settle, but very often it's the insurance company that pushes that decision since the insurance company is shelling out mega-bucks by the hour to a defense law firm to handle the case. That $250,000 was probably most of what the insurance company had already shelled out over the two years to whatever defense law firm was handling the case.

[MajorChode]

32. For them it's simply a business decision

I can certainly understand the reality of that situation.

Unfortunately what this does is it opens up the flood gates for everyone who has a frivolous case to extort money on that basis. Even if they have zero case, they know the city will pay up to a certain percentage of what the defense will cost them. So even lawyers that work on a contingency encourage their clients to sue, and the family has nothing to loose, so why not? Ultimately the tax payers do pick up the bill because the insurance company is going to get their money back eventually. They will just raise their rate accordingly.

So while it's sad those kids will grow up without a mother, it's not always the fault of someone else. If you walk out in front of a bus, it's not the bus company's fault you managed to offer your own proof of Darwin's theory.

[TorchTheWitch]

40. that's exactly what happens

But the floodgates opened a long time ago and that's part of the reason he sued to begin with... he already knew given the history of how insurance companies operate that he'd very likely get something. Pretty much everyone knows that, and that's why so many frivilous lawsuits get filed and why so many people are awarded settlement money they aren't deserving of.

What is particularly irritating in this case is that hubby himself showed less concern for her wellfare than the cops did. He knew of her problems, knew what was likely to happen if she traveled to rehab on her own, knew that whoever she encountered would not know of her problems and actively kept those problems secret from those who needed to know. The most negligent individuals in this sorry story is her own family. It was the family's responsibility to see to it that she arrived at the rehab safely in a sober condition. If none of them could have made the trip with her they could have hired an escort to travel with her and see to it that she remained sober from point A to point B, but instead they washed their hands of her knowing she was not capable of making the trip alone in a sober condition, and just crossed their fingers and foolishly hoped that she'd somehow manage to arrive at the rehab without anything happening either to her or to anyone else she encountered. The family actively put her at risk and put anyone else she encountered at risk and did so knowingly.

I feel sorry for her not because of what the cops did but what her own family did. That poor woman should never have been allowed to travel to rehab by herself. This would not have happened if her own family hadn't been the negligent ones in allowing her to do so knowing she wasn't capable.

[MajorChode]

42. I feel the same way

The husband never took any personal responsibility for this. He said if the police had just taken the time to hold her hand and listen to her, none of this would have happened. If he had taken the time to hold her hand it wouldn't have happened either. I guess that irony was lost on him.

[TorchTheWitch]

43. That's exactly what bugs me so much

He wants everyone else to jump through impossible hoops to deal with her when he himself dropped the ball in dealing with her when he's the one in the greatest position and most responsible position to do so. He still believes that everyone else was more responsible for her welfare than he was himself when he's the one who knew about her problems, knew she wasn't capable of traveling by herself in a sober condition and actively kept what he knew secret expecting everyone else to guess accurately what her problems were and not only be responsible for her but provide her comfort and understanding. HE put her at risk allowing her to travel by herself knowing she wasn't capable, HE kept the information of her problems secret from the unsuspecting people she encountered that needed to know, and HE didn't provide her with hand holding comfort that was HIS responsibility to provide. He's no different than a parent who actively put their kids at risk yet believes the rest of the world is more responsible for the welfare and safety of their children than they are themselves.

It's no wonder that he settled for so little... he knew that if the case continued he would have been discovered to have been the most negligent and wouldn't have gotten a dime. It irks me to no end that he's getting that settlement money because he in no way deserves a single penny. Those poor kids are without their mother because their mother's own family thoroughly dropped the ball in providing for her safety and welfare.

[MajorChode]

44. I'm sure his attorney gave him an ultimatum

Which was he could either accept the extortion money or he wouldn't continue to work the case on a contingency basis. I'm sure the attorney knew all along that there was no case, but he knew he had a good extortion racket. So the attorney gets his 33% or $82.5K for doing little more than filing the paperwork and conducting a couple of press briefings. It's easy money if you can get it. So another black mark goes against tort lawyers even though many of them are honest and are the only protection some people have from predatory corporations, and some RW legislator will hold up the case as an example of why we need even more tort reform.

[harvey007]

48. "Accidently" My Ass!

I hope the family demands $250 million.

[TorchTheWitch]

56. they settled for $250,000 and shouldn't get a dime

You're late to the party. The family has already accepted a settlement of $250,000 when they demanded 8 million, and they don't deserve any of it. Yes, her death was accidental and the alcohol and drugs found in her system contributed to her own death... everyone including her family agrees that her death was accidental.

[The abyss]

49. Arguments one way or the other

Theories one way or the other are indifferent.

The fact of the matter is that this lady was in the custody of the enforcement arm of the state. Within that embrace she died.

The “state” is responsible for that death.

[SDuderstadt]

50. Bullshit....

stupid post.

[The abyss]

51. Interesting!

I guess I underestimated the “weight” behind this settlement offer.

[SDuderstadt]

52. I think Cyril Wecht carries more weight than...

you do, dude.

Mixing large doses of two prescription drugs made Carol Gotbaum more likely to have medical problems after she was shackled in an airport holding cell, the family's pathologist said Monday.

"We are not talking about a drug death, but a death where drugs made her more susceptible," said Cyril Wecht, a pathologist who essentially agreed with the Maricopa County medical examiner that Gotbaum's death was an accident. But he added that police should have gotten medical help soon after they encountered Gotbaum.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/1113gotbaum1113.html

Why don't you educate yourself before making such stupid posts?

[The abyss]

53. Hang in there!

[SDuderstadt]

58. Well, I'm not the one describing what all parties involved agree was an accident as...

"murder by the state".

Your claim is stupid.

[TorchTheWitch]

55. and if they got her medical help she would have refused it

and then people would be scorning the police for forcing medical attention upon her. She didn't want medical attention because the last thing she wanted was for anyone to know that she was drunk and on drugs. What she wanted was to get on her flight in her drunk, drugged and hysterical condition and that was completely unrealistic and was already too late, hence her hysteria.