Woman punches, kicks and screams at airport security then strangles herself

[KurtNYC]

What is wrong with that story?

If we believe the eyewitnesses quoted in the latest stories about the Phoenix airport incident, then we have a more complete picture of the events preceeding the death of Carol Gotbaum.

More facts are yet to come out -- eg. what did she mean when she yelled I'm a sick mom?

But I thought these new facts were missing from some of the threads started in the last 2 days:

Airport workers said one cop put his knee in her back to restrain her while others grabbed her flailing arms.

"I believe she was a little not-there. She kept punching. She kept screaming. She kept kicking," one worker told The News.

Police spokeman couldn't immediately explain why a distressed woman was left alone in handcuffs while seven police officers were in the security office.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/01/2007-10-01_gotbaum_kins_plea_before_dying_im_not_a_.html

Punching, kicking and screaming at officers can lead to "accidental" death in custody (with no witnesses to the contrary) but I'm not saying that is what happened there. Others have mentioned that it is possible for a person to suffocate themselves while struggling in handcuffs and while the original story mentions handcuffs 'around her neck' details are often mangled when being simplified and relayed for national news stories.

I invite anyone who has seen more details on this developing story to post them.

edit for bolding error

[book_worm]

1. the bottom line is that woman who was in that kind of frame of mind shouldn't have been left alone

[jgraz]

2. I don't think she was left alone at all

She strangled HERSELF while handcuffed? Doesn't that seem a bit unlikely to you?

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. Just a little bit unlikely n/t

[Richard Steele]

5. Sounds incredibly unlikely to me.

And if the "strangled with her own handcuffs" line
was some sort of misprint, why no correction yet?

I think they killed her, and that was the best excuse
they could invent upon the spur of the moment.

[KurtNYC]

6. I don't think we know that she was left alone

especially if "alone" means in holding cell with no means of observing her eg. no window, camera, no observation of any kind.

[zbdent]

16. Come on now, you'll be telling me that a right-handed person shot themselves

in the left side of the back of their head ...

Ooops, this was supposed to be to #2 ...

[lazer47]

3. I wish someone would actually show me how you can strangle

yourself while in a set of handcuffs.

[adadem]

7. Me, too

Makes no sense whatsoever

[Hutzpa]

10. Me, Three!!

:yoiks:

[Marrah_G]

8. No one knows all the facts yet

Perhaps it would be wise to wait for a cause of death and more facts to come out before making any sort of rash judgment.

News reports in the first few days of a death are notorious for being wrong on the details. Everyone wants the scoop, even if it just a rumor.

[toddaa]

13. This is DU

Rash judgments are our specialty.

[Marrah_G]

14. True!

Hey, who let you out of the R/T dungeon?

[valerief]

9. Very strange story. An overly ambitious Blackwater mercenary at work maybe? And cover-up?

<<Gotbaum's husband, Noah, is the son of longtime city labor leader Victor Gotbaum and the stepson of his wife, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, a possible candidate for mayor in 2009.>>

[LisaL]

11. Right. Have your tin foil had ready.

Not everything is this big giant conspiracy, although reading DU one might get an impression that it is.

[valerief]

20. Yes, not everything. But some things are. I'm sure the German people were dismissive, too,

at the rise of Nazism.

[BrklynLib at work]

12. It does not have to be a big fat conspiracy to be a VERY STRANGE STORY...

[SmokingJacket]

15. Exactly. MORE INFO is needed.

Hope we get some.

[PDenton]

17. Anybody smell bad bacon?

[Lance_Boyle]

18. All this over the Phoenix to Tucson flight???

She could've driven it in 1.5 to 2 hours!

[librechik]

19. dunno, but certain handcuff positions can lead to suffocation

there's a way to put the handcuffs on that severely restricts the diaphragm. People in custody have dies from this before (though as I recall they were obese and that contributed to the diaphragm problem.

This is mysterious unless a) she had a pre-existing condition that caused her to drop dead or B0 ther was excessive force.

eithter way, this will be straightened out eventually. I wouldn't get too deep into the weeds with the Democratic Activist stuff. We proably aren't that far gone yet, even at the airport.