NYC Public Advocate's Daughter-In-Law Dies At Phoenix Airport

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WCBS New York: Public Advocate's Daughter-In-Law Dies At Airport
Did Woman Accidentally Choke Herself To Death?
Lou Young Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK 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,” Betsey Gotbaum said.

The incident happened at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Friday when Carole 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.” A half hour later she died in an airport holding room. 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....

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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 a retired naval commander. Her father-in-law is Victor Gotbaum, the retired labor leader....

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