Irate Mom Airport Death

by Michele

As a former New Yorker, former prosecutor, and frequent flier, I can't help but pay attention to the very upsetting story of the death of Carol Ann Gotbaum at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix.  According to news reports, the mother of three from a prominent New York family was transiting through Phoenix to get to an in-patient alcohol treatment facility in Tucson when the incident occurred.  The family reports she had a serious problem with alcohol dependency and had attempted suicide. 

She was reportedly sober when leaving New York, but began drinking during the layover in Phoenix.  She arrived at the gate after the cabin door had been closed on her flight and was denied boarding, and then she lost it.  She threw her Blackberry at somebody and it shattered into pieces.  Airline personnel were unable to calm her down.  She started running around the terminal screaming, and the police quickly surrounded and handcuffed her.  She was reported to be screaming profanities as well as shouting that she was a "sick mom," not a terrorist. 

She was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and brought to a holding cell with her hands cuffed behind her.  The handcuffs were attached to a bench by a long chain.  She was left alone, seated on the bench, still screaming and cursing.  After about eight minutes, the officers went to check on her and found her dead.  The chain was wrapped around her neck, and the police believe that she may have strangled herself accidentally while trying to move the handcuffs from behind to in front of her.

There was no camera in the holding cell, but an airport security camera caught the arrest on tape:

   Click here to see an unedited version of the tape without audio, and here to view it with a voiceover, music and an excerpt of a briefing by the Phoenix Police Department (amazing what's out there on Youtube).  Because there's no sound on the tape, and because it begins only seconds before the police approach her, it's hard to get a sense of what her conduct was really like.  It's pretty clear that she was out of control.  It's also clear that the police approached and spoke with her, and that she continued to make a scene, at which point they handcuffed her.  Footage of her being dragged away suggests that she was resisting arrest.  In any event, the tape doesn't reveal that the police violated any policy or used any unreasonable force in arresting her.  Unless you believe that it was unreasonable to arrest her at all, in which case you probably blame the police for her death.

                                                                

To me, this case is the perfect Rorschach test for our prejudices.  It gets at how we feel about gender and race, about class and motherhood, about civil liberties and the war on terror, about New Yorkers and cops. 

Let's face it: a lot people think that women, especially mothers, and especially wealthy women, don't have alcohol problems and don't do anything bad enough to get arrested for.  I saw this prejudice in action when I was a prosecutor.  The vast majority of people arrested for crimes of violence and drug crimes are men.  On the rare occasion when a woman was charged, I found it virtually impossible to get a judge to order her held without bail for the same crimes men get sent up for, and extremely difficult to convict her at trial, no matter how strong the evidence.  The younger and more attractive the woman, especially if she was or looked white, the more difficult it was.

I know I hold some of these prejudices myself.  I confronted them on an early-morning flight from New York to St. Maarten earlier this year, when I sat across the aisle from a petite, attractive, beautifully dressed mother traveling with her husband and children.  This woman drank straight gin non-stop from a stash of tiny bottles she had in a diaper bag at her feet.  I was profoundly shocked.  More shocked than I should have been.  I have to admit, I'm pretty sure I would've been a lot less shocked if the woman had been any of these things -- older, less attractive, not a mother, of a different race or not female.  I think we focus on the conduct of the police in the Gotbaum case because we just can't believe a woman fitting Carol Ann Gotbaum's profile behaved the way she did.  If a threatening-looking man became irate at the gate and ran through the airport screaming profanities, we'd be much less troubled by this case.

But what did the police do wrong exactly?  And where was this woman's family?  They've now hired what USA Today calls a "blue-chip team" to handle the aftermath of her death, including not only a high-powered lawyer and forensic pathologist to conduct an independent investigation (can we say lawsuit?) but also Howard Rubenstein, one of the most feared (and expensive) public relations men in New York to spin the story.  If some of that money had been spent on a companion ticket for a loved one or trusted friend to make sure she got to rehab safely, it's hard to believe this tragedy ever would have occurred. 

Comments

[Laura (in PA)]

That was my biggest question right there, Michele. WHY was this woman traveling ALONE to a rehab center. That makes no sense at all to me. It seems her family was aware of the problem, and are not hurting for money, so why was no one with her?

I have to admit I'm also shocked at your story of the woman with the gin in her diaper bag. And sad. I hope someone knows of her problem and is encouraging her to get help, since obviously there are young children involved.

I don't think the police are to blame for this woman's death, although they probably shouldn't have left her unattended. It's tragic she had to die that way, but she was certainly creating a disturbance and her behavior made it clear she was not stable at that moment, and could very well have hurt someone. So the arrest was reasonable, in my opinion.

[Kathryn Reschini Sweeney]

Well, that's one perspective. Mine goes more to the fact that we treat people with mental illness and addictions differently than people with other diseases. Even though anyone with experience, directly or indirectly, with alcoholism recognizes that it is a disease, and even though it is categorized as such by the medical community, I think that is the prejudice we're dealing with here.

If this woman had exhibited signs of cardio-vascular problems, or even respiratory problems, she would have been receiving emergency medical care, rather than left screaming and chained.

Assuming everyone (other than the dead Mom) acted in the best possible way otherwise, the fact remains that Sky Harbor personnel and their law enforcement counterparts violated their own rules (which are in effect at our airport as well) not to leave a detainee unattended, especially one who is so clearly agitated.

As far as why she was traveling alone -- a good question to ask, but not an excuse for a death that could have easily been prevented.

[michele martinez]

The husband knew. He was sitting next to her begging her to stop. She'd turn to him and say things like, "That was only three. I promise I'll stop after the next one."

I've never heard of a rule that says you can't leave a detainee unattended at all. In many custody situations that's just not feasible, and I know it's not the rule with either the NYPD or any of the federal agencies (FBI, DEA, etc). There are often rules about how often you need to check on a detainee. From what I read, this case the policy was every fifteen minutes, and it wasn't violated.

I totally agree with what Kathy said about how we treat people with mental illness and addiction problems differently than people with cardiac problems. Really good point. It has more stigma. People are more uncomfortable witnessing it than witnessing, say, a heart attack. And there's more tendency to blame the person and think they could stop it if they wanted to.

[ramona]

Michele, if you had asked me out of the blue who I think, demographically, drinks more than any other group, I'd have answered: middle to upper class white women. Add to it various meds for depression and so on, and it's a ugly secret. I know women who drink a lot, but never seem drunk. And that's just the drinking I know about.

My impression of this woman's story is that a lot of people did things wrong, but no one is to blame.

ITA about addiction and mental illness being the second class citizens of illnesses. It's not just for the grown-ups, either. I recently went to a talk by a local drug/alcohol counselor. She was speaking about teenage alcoholism. What I remember most was her comment that she has an after-school group every Tuesday, and some of the kids SHOW UP DRUNK.

[Nancy Martin]

My first thought when I heard this, too, was why was she traveling alone? (But your comment here, Michele, seemed to indicate her husband was with her? Or did he leave before she went off the edge?)

I hate to point the finger at law enforcement, but sometimes I think police and security people are not trained in areas where we really need their help. (In small towns--my frame of reference---there's a fine line between the cops and the criminals. And it's often a fluke which way some of them turned.) Training and education? Hardly any. If they take a Red Cross course in CPR, that's enough. Especially in the security field---people are often given the jobs because they already own the uniform and carry a gun permit. This isn't enough in the age of terroritsm. I think it's up to employers and communities to make sure those who "protect and serve" come with all the necessary training. It's up to community government (who operate airports,too, right?) surely, to raise the bar.

[Harley]

I can say absolutely that the police aren't trained to deal with mental illness, and alchoholism is an illness. I researched this for my books and if they're lucky, cops get a few hours of training in dealing with the mentally ill. It is not, as you might imagine, their favorite population to interact with.

Having spent the weekend in Phoenix, a lot of it at that very airport (a really pleasant one) after doing an appearance at the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill (if you've got a sick family member, check these people out; they're great!) this has so much resonance for me this morning.

I want to de-stigmatize everything, starting with alcoholism.

Okay, I'll hop off the soapbox now!

[michele martinez]

The woman whose husband was sitting next to her was the one I saw drinking gin on the flight to St. Maarten. Carol Ann Gotbaum, the woman who died in Phoenix, was traveling alone. Personally, I would never have let my own spouse travel alone under those circumstances, but who knows. Maybe he thought it would be therapeutic.

Cops and federal agents definitely get some training in dealing with people under the influence. Certainly they have tremendous experience with it, since most violent incidents involve people who've ingested some sustance or another. The training is about stuff like how to take them into custody without injuring them or yourself, things to say to try to calm them down, how to avoid getting stuck with their needles, etc. If a person needed detox, they'd get sent to Bellevue, but they were always in custody for a while in order for those arrangements to be made.

[michele martinez]

I don't think what I just posted was clear. What I meant was, the cops aren't really trained to deal with addiction. They're trained in the safest ways to arrest people who are drunk or under the influence of narcotics. Then they're trained on who to call who *is* trained to deal with addiction.

[Karen Olson]

Who knows why her husband wasn't accompanying her. Maybe it was because someone had to stay with the kids. Maybe no one else in the family knew about her alcoholism so that's why she had to travel alone. Alcoholics are secretive; their families sometimes even more so. My father is a recovering alcoholic. He quit drinking and went to his first AA meeting in 1978. I was in high school. No one knew outside our immediate family. I didn't have friends over; I couldn't risk it. And that last night he drank? He took the car keys and went out driving. He called the house, my mother gave me the phone, wanted me to talk him home so he wouldn't kill himself or anyone else. At that point, I didn't care if he never came home. It's possible this woman's family felt the same way. It's excrutiating living with an alcoholic.

I'm sorry that this woman died the way she did, and it's likely that the airport police thought she'd probably pass out or sober up eventually and not accidentally kill herself.

[Maryann Mercer]

One wonders what would have happened had the woman been out of control anywhere BUT in an airport, alone or with companion. Would someone at a truck stop or bus terminal been kinder, rougher, ignored it altogether? Generally speaking, airports and airport personnel are under scrutiny for everything from late flights to missed items at security checkpoints. Personnel, sufficiently trained or not, are more apt to over-react than to not react at all. We as citizens might attempt to ignore such behavior, but the "what if" scenario is very much there for the airlines. And the police.
Along with my question as to where the husband was in all this is the concern as to why she was "chained" to begin with. If the cuffs weren't sufficient, and she was in a cell then why was she shackled?
In any case, ITA we've looked at alcholism and drug abuse as social diseases for so long that we put them in second place and blame the people. Carol Gotbaum needed someone to listen to her. The woman on the flight to St.Maarten had a husband who didn't care enough to see what was happening OR knew and just let it go.

[Karen Olson]

Maryann says, "The woman on the flight to St.Maarten had a husband who didn't care enough to see what was happening OR knew and just let it go."

You can't make an alcoholic stop drinking. No one except the alcoholic can do that. It doesn't matter how much a spouse cares. And when there are children involved, it makes everything so much more complicated. This woman had made promises before, the husband obviously wanted to believe her. They're both in denial. This is not unusual.

[michele martinez]

I agree with Karen. The husband of the woman I saw on the airplane was obviously deeply upset by what was going on and doing his best to convince her to stop. From what I saw, he would've had to physically restrain her to stop her from drinking.

Maryann, by "shackled," do you mean putting on leg irons and chaining them to the cuffs? I've only seen this done in transport of dangerous prisoners, otherwise it's considered too restrictive. I'm sure the lawsuit the family eventually brings will turn on what the policy was on restraints and whether it was sufficient, whether it was forseeable that she would try to escape or kill herself, etc. There probably isn't any clear answer to any of those questions.

[Maryann Mercer]

I know no one can make an alcoholic stop drinking until he or she makes the choice, but if there had been broken promises, wouldn't the husband at least checked the diaper bag? There's a difference between not stopping someone and not caring enough to at least check what this woman was bringing on board with her (husband or security...we're all supposed to abide by the 3-1-1...and obviously the bottles weren't disguised as formula). Or was there a nanny for the kids, so the husband could relax and not worry?
Michele, shackled was the only word I could think of this early on to describe handcuffs with a long chain. From what I know, standard police issue cuffs don't have long enough chain between them for someone to wrap it around his neck...and if she was in a cell, why the need?

[michele martinez]

Interesting question, Maryann. My guess would be that they used the chain because she was thrashing around a lot during the arrest and they wanted to keep her seated to encourage her to calm down. But that's only a guess. Like I said, the manner of restraint is bound to be the main subject of the lawsuit.

[ramona]

What Karen says about the complex choices faced by families is true. I had a very good friend who, after decades of battling depression, took her own life. Her husband was immediately blamed for "not doing more." For years while she was sick, he'd kept a job and cared for the kids and maintained their home. Evidently, he didn't do enough for his wife, but he's not superman. He did the best he could. It can be easy to judge when you aren't in that bad situation, when you don't know what to do, or you are simply worn to the bone.

[michele martinez]

Oh, and about the husband I saw on the airplane -- he didn't look like he was acquiescing in any happy way. He looked really upset. But they seemed to have one of these dynamics where he asked nicely for her to stop and she promised she would, just not yet. I'm sure it was really tough for him.

[michele martinez]

Ramona, I hear you. Maybe Carol Ann Gotbaum's husband had reached the point of saying, "You need to do this for yourself," and that's why he chose not to travel with her. I wouldn't judge that if the family weren't blaming everyone else and so obviously gearing up to sue the pants off anyone who came into contact with her.

I am so sorry about your friend's suicide. What a tragic situation, and the poor husband.

[Karen Olson]

It doesn't matter if the husband had taken the bottles out of the diaper bag. She would've gotten a drink regardless. My dad told me about a guy who had said he'd stopped drinking, but his wife kept smelling the booze on him and he was obviously drunk. But she couldn't find the bottles. Turns out he'd filled the garden hose in the basement with it and would go down to "do some work" and drink out of the hose. My dad tells me that alcoholics are incredibly clever at figuring out how to get that next drink.

[ramona]

Thanks, Michele. Who knows, maybe the family is reacting out of their own feelings of guilt. Or, maybe they're obnoxious. It's hard to tell, isn't it?

Karen, my god, that garden hose story. There are no words.

Okay, book plug: BOTTLED UP by Jaye Murray. Excellent contemporary YA novel about the cycle of alcoholism in a family.

[Kerry, the Martial Tart]

Whoosh -- heavy stuff for so early in the morning. From what I understand, Ms. Gutbaum lost it when a passenger on the next flight out offered up his seat, but she was told she couldn't have it because of security concerns (hence the "I'm not a terrorist" stuff). That would seem to obviate the husband's claim that, if someone had just been kind to her, she would have been fine. In general, as far as I can tell, it seems that the folks in question were all trying to do the best they could with a scary situation. If I were to criticize anything, it would be leaving her alone.

As for the alcoholism problem, it occurs to me that there really is no way the security agents/police could have known that she was an alcoholic. Sure, they could have made an educated guess that she was under the influence of something, but that's not the same thing. So I really don't think their actions were mediated by prejudice. I am perfectly willing, however, to accept that individuals' perceptions of the incident will definitely be colored by same.

[ArkansasCyndi]

Didn't I hear that this death one of a number of deaths that have occurred while suspects were in the airport police custody? Something like 6 deaths in the last eight months??? I couldn't find it this morning, but if that's true, wouldn't that be alarming

[Harley]

Can I make another plug?

Alanon. If someone else--friend or family member--has a drinking problem that's an issue for you, go to an Alanon meeting. They are absolutely confidential and you don't have to say a word if you don't want to, and it could change your life. They are all over the world. If I could do one thing for the guy on the plane with the wife drinking the bottles in the diaper bag, I'd give him the address of the nearest Alanon meeting.

[michele martinez]

Wow, Ramona, that is an amazing story about the garden hose. Harley's right. People should be using resources like Alanon.

Cyndi, here's a link to an interesting study about deaths in police custody:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21255937/

It doesn't separate out airport-based police. As I understand it, it was the Phoenix P.D. based at the airport, not the TSA or any other airport-based security force, who arrested Carol Ann Gotbaum. In an airport in a major city, there's usually a detail of the local police department on-site at the airport. At JFK in New York, there were multipple overlapping commands with different mandates. One group would handle narcotics smuggling, another crimes of violence that occurred at the airport, etc.

[Tom]

Alanon! Hear, hear!

And if you don't like the first group you try, go try another.

[bea]

Carol Gotbaum was taken into custody--she became a ward of the state. The state is obliged to protect every person it makes its ward. Sure it's complicated, but let's not miss the simplicity of it, either. The woman was taken into custody because she was a danger--to either herself or others. And then, suddenly, when the cuffs and shackles were in place, she was deemed not a danger to anyone. I think that's crap. The police have a double standard, and we are helping them perpetuate it by criticizing this woman and her family.

As for the woman gulping gin on the plane--perhaps she hates flying; maybe they were heading to a vacation she dreaded. Perhaps her husband is inept with the kids, and all he could think was that he was going to have to deal with them himself while Mommy took a nap. Who knows?