Report Details Series of Desperate Calls by Gotbaum’s Husband
[ Noah E. Gotbaum, the husband of Carol A. Gotbaum, with an unidentified friend of the family, departing Sinai Mortuary in Phoenix after claiming his wife’s body on Thursday. (Jack Kurtz/Associated Press/The Arizona Republic)]
The 108 pages [pdf] reveal new details into the case. The mysterious circumstances of the death prompted the Gotbaum family to call for an official investigation and to commission an independent autopsy.
On Thursday, the Phoenix Police Department defended its handling of the case and said they did everything possible to try to revive Ms. Gotbaum after finding her unconscious on a bench to which her handcuffs had been shackled. The police also released a video of the arrest, which showed Ms. Gotbaum behaving erratically as officers subdued her.
The phone calls from her husband, Noah E. Gotbaum, show that he repeatedly tried to alert the police about the emotional state of his 45-year-old wife. The police have said that they were not aware of her personal issues — including her emotional disturbances and alcohol addiction — when they detained her.
In one call, shortly after she was arrested, Mr. Gotbaum told an emergency dispatcher in Phoenix that “a very close family friend,” David Watson, was supposed to meet Ms. Gotbaum at the airport and assist her.
“I’ve said it before and I’m actually quite unhappy that I have not heard back, because the police don’t really understand what they’re dealing with right now and no one has called me, but he does, David understands and David will be in Terminal 4 or wherever the police are in about five minutes,” Mr. Gotbaum told the dispatcher. (It is not clear if Mr. Watson, who lives in the Phoenix area, ultimately showed up at the terminal.)
At another point, Mr. Gotbaum described his wife as “suicidal” and said she had abused alcohol. “The police have to understand that they’re not dealing with someone who’s just been drinking on flight and acting rowdy,” he said. “That’s not what’s going on here.” Later, he said his wife needs to be handled “with very kid gloves.”
In another conversation, Mr. Gotbaum told dispatchers that his wife was in “a very, very fragile mental state.” And Mr. Gotbaum, frustrated that the police were not telling him more details about his wife’s arrest and detention, told a dispatcher, “This is a very dangerous situation we’re in right now.” At the end of the call, he called the situation a “medical emergency” and pleaded, “I suggest that someone give me a call immediately!”
The documents also include detailed statements from witnesses and police officers.
Thomas Greenlaw, a checkpoint supervisor for the federal Transportation Security Administration, described Ms. Gotbaum as being “out of control” and “screaming and waving,” according to the police narrative of the interview. Mr. Greenlaw said Ms. Gotbaum repeatedly yelled, “I’m not a terrorist.” Erik A. Iversen and Matthew Detras, other T.S.A. employees, told investigators that Ms. Gotbaum used several expletives as she was subdued.
Officer Andrew Woyna, who made the arrest, told investigators that the decision was made to charge Ms. Gotbaum because she would not calm down. She was detained on the third floor of the terminal and taken to the police holding cell on the second floor. Ms. Gotbaum resisted as the officers removed her.
“She was fighting them as they tried to walk her to the elevators,” an investigator wrote, based on Officer Woyna’s statement. “He explained that she would try to dig/drag her feet so they could not walk her to the elevator. When they were on carpet she could resist walking, but when they were on the tile floor she had no traction and slid quickly across the floor. He said that it was because of her nylon socks and no shoes that she could not stop or resist being taken to security.”
After Ms. Gotbaum was taken to the holding cell, officers tried to read her her Miranda rights as she was screaming and yelling. She was left in the holding cell. Officer Woyna told investigators that he returned three or four minutes later after she had stopped screaming, found her unconscious and immediately sought help. Ms. Gotbaum was unchained and Officer Woyna tried chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — even after she vomited into his mouth.
Officer Woyna and another officer, Jason Toth, tried to revive Ms. Gotbaum with an automated external defibrillator. They were unsuccessful. Emergency medical workers from the Fire Department eventually replaced the officers. They, too, could not revive Ms. Gotbaum.
A third officer, Duane Rigg, stated, as did the other officers, that “they did not strike her, use chemicals or Taser to take her into custody.” Two other officers, Terri Klepper and Dick Richards, also provided statements.
Ms. Gotbaum was pronounced dead at 3:29 p.m. on Sept. 28.
An autopsy was conducted this week by the Maricopa County medical examiner’s office. The death investigation is not complete, but the newly documents reveal that there were finger marks and bruises on her right bicep, likely caused by the officers as they restrained her.
The medical examiner, Dr. Ann Bucholtz, found “green discoloration on the right pelvic area from natural causes following the death,” which were not the result of an injury. Dr. Bucholtz did not find broken blood vessels or fractures on the body or anything obstructing Ms. Gotbaum’s airway.
John Eligon contributed reporting from Phoenix
[where: New York, NY]
Related Stories...
