Woman dies in police custody after being arrested at airport

[ire]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/01/phoenix.airport.death/index.html

On Saturday, Hill said investigators guessed that "Gotbaum had possibly tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, got tangled up in the process, and they ended up around her neck area."

How in the hell does this happen? I can't picture it; wouldn't you just slip the cuffs below your feet and to the front of you??

[Westy]

I bet it was suicide.

[ire]

I bet it was suicide.

Thats what I was thinking

[sanjuro]

I thought this was an interesting account:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/a-new-yorkers-puzzling-death-in-phoenix/index.html?hp

[ire]

That was a good read. It will be interesting to see what the investigation turns up.

[ohio]

POLICE BRUTALITY!



(small letters down here to keep the big letters up there)

[Toshi]

i bet it was teh crack cocaine

[MikeD]

I thought this was an interesting account:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/a-new-yorkers-puzzling-death-in-phoenix/index.html?hp

Wow, some real MENSA members posting in the commentary on that one...

[Secret Squirrel]

Wow, some real MENSA members posting in the commentary on that one...

Hey now...we don't make fun of your "womanly issues" around here...no need to go poking fun at theirs'...

[Reactor]

At least she wasn't tased.......or people would be really mad.

[Silver]

Nothing to see here. Reminds me of the time that Abner Louima was in custody and managed to shove a plunger up his ass. Sometimes these things just happen...

[MikeD]

Well, what strikes me as really odd in this case is a standard operating procedure that puts a restrained subject alone for periods of time, especially if no one's even watching on a camera. If someone's in a cell, they're typically out of restraints once they're inside...when you cuff someone, you're responsible for them, as far as I'm aware.

[MarinR00]

I am wondering what possessed her to run through the airport screaming?

[Silver]

I am wondering what possessed her to run through the airport screaming?

A wet drunk on the way to inpatient rehab isn't always the sharpest knife in the drawer...

[ire]

I am wondering what possessed her to run through the airport screaming?

She was pissed she couldn't get on her flight. They didn't deny her entry, the gate had closed and the plane was starting to pull away

[BurlyShirley]

3 kids? What a whore!

[I Are Baboon]

Whoops.

[Fool]

According to escape artists:
here's how you slip handcuffs from behind over your head (don't try this at home): First, push the left arm as far to the right as possible, or dislocate the shoulder altogether. Rotate the right wrist clockwise within the handcuff until the inside of the wrist faces outward, then bring up the right wrist as if in a bicep curl; the left arm will be tugged upward at the same time. Next, the right arm moves up, scraping up the shoulder blade, until both hands are basically behind the neck and the right elbow points up above your head. Then, tucking your chin into the chest, bring the crook of your right arm over your head. To finish the maneuver, pop the handcuffs around the left forearm, dislocate the left shoulder (if you haven't already), and bring the left arm down in front. (Here's a slow-motion video of the whole thing.) During a murder trial in Australia a few years ago, a woman who had been abducted demonstrated to the jury in a couple of seconds how she made her escape by executing this maneuver. Some real life Gumbys can do this without bending their arms.

source: http://www.slate.com/id/2175054/fr/rss/

[ire]

According to escape artists:
source: http://www.slate.com/id/2175054/fr/rss/

This is somehow easier than pulling your legs up and slipping them below your feet?

[ire]

More news:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21101515/site/newsweek/

Carol A. Gotbaum, 45, died in handcuffs at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport last Friday afternoon after she missed a flight to reach an alcohol rehab facility. According to authorities, the mother of three grew irate after she was turned away for being too late for her connecting flight to Tucson, U.S. Airways Express flight 2825.
...
so officers chained her to the bench by using a shackle formed by a 16-inch length of chain with a wrist cuff on either end. This was passed around the handcuffs holding Gotbaum’s arms behind her back, according to the police account, then placed in an eyehook on the bench.

[MikeD]

This is somehow easier than pulling your legs up and slipping them below your feet?

I've seen people slip cuffs both ways.

She was a ****ing loon.

She may have been prevented from doing this by her positioning.

The fact that she was cuffed to the bench makes more sense with the strangling thing, if she tried to lower her whole body down through her arms, ending up with her hands near the back of her head somehow.

[sanjuro]

Yeah, I saw a story on the TV tonight. She was freaking out and struggling hard when she was led away.

Maybe if somebody from her loving family went with her to the recovery center, she would be still alive today.

[MikeD]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/04/airport.death/index.html?eref=onion

Edit: Video's really a red herring...nothing connected with the arrest is the point at issue. I guess it does establish the fact that she was pretty crazed and resistant to detention/control, which supports the theory that she was trying to escape from her cuffs.

However..."I'm a fat cop! What will help me get more respect?? I know...I'll wear SHORTS!" (And I'll make sure to appear on a video that appears to squash everyone's figure...)

[sanjuro]

After watching CSI a million times, I believe they will figure out how she was choked.

I figure a headlock or a garotte will a distinctive mark, or if she figured out how she choked herself.