New Video Shows Woman Agitated in Airport

Oct. 5, 2007 — -- Newly released surveillance tapes of a woman who mysteriously died while in police custody offer some clues about what may have happened to her.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, a mother of three, was heading to an alcohol rehabilitation treatment in Tuscon, Ariz., when, according to authorities, she became hysterical after missing her flight in Phoenix.

The tape, released by the Phoenix Police Department, Thursday, shows a woman police say is Gotbaum, standing by herself in the Sky Harbor International Airport, apparently agitated.

The video does not have any audio, but based upon witness statements the woman was screaming at the top of her lungs, "I'm not a terrorist! I'm not a terrorist!"

Within minutes she is approached by Transportation Safety Administration officers who attempt to calm her down, to no avail. The Phoenix police were then called in.

A police officer narrating the tape says, "She's continuing to yell at the top of her lungs and finally, with no alternative, officers attempt to affect an arrest."

In the tape, the woman thought to be Gotbaum appears to fall to the ground. Police handcuff her and lead her away.

Husband Called to Warn Police

Gotbaum's husband, Noah Gotbaum, said he made several calls to the Phoenix police and the airport trying to warn them that his wife was severely depressed and on her way to rehab.

He wanted to make it clear that she wasn't just a police problem, but was in fact in the middle of a medical emergency. Police in direct contact with Gotbaum say they never got the message.

While the tape seems to show that the woman thought to be Gotbaum was without a doubt creating a disturbance, it is still unknown what happened to her after she was removed from the airport.

Police said Gotbaum was left unattended in a holding cell with her hands cuffed behind her back and shackled to a bench. Just minutes later she was found unconscious, her hands still in handcuffs, but now in front of her.

She died despite police attempts to resuscitate her, according to the Phoenix Police Department.

"Investigators believe that the longest amount of time that she was alone during that period was approximately six to eight minutes, which is well within our policy," said Sgt. Andy Hill of the Phoenix police. "The officers also determined that she was not a danger or threat to others or to herself, based on her actions and comments."

Gotbaum is the 45-year-old stepdaughter-in-law of New York's public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum.

Her family, which believes Gotbaum was mishandled by police, has hired a high-powered Phoenix lawyer as well as Cyril Wecht, a nationally renowned forensic pathologist, who performed an independent autopsy this week. Results are still pending.