"Does it make sense to treat a 105-pound woman – who at that moment at least is emotionally disturbed – to treat her like a criminal?" said Michael Manning, a Phoenix lawyer hired by Gotbaum’s husband, Noah.

Manning earlier had blasted the cops for what he called the "tackle-and-shackle episode."

"The cops took her down without attempting to calm her, put a knee to her back, and carted her off," Manning said. "The family wants to give the Phoenix Police Department the benefit of the doubt, but it’s becoming more and more difficult as the evidence comes in."

That evidence includes an account from a woman who told Manning, "I saw them carry her into that holding cell, and she was utterly docile," according to the lawyer.

The woman said Gotbaum "was noncombative, not resisting. She wondered if she was dead," the lawyer said.

But now we learn that on the same afternoon that Phoenix police arrested a hysterical woman at Sky Harbor International Airport, her husband in New York placed repeated, urgent phone calls to airport authorities, warning them that his wife was suicidal and should not be left alone.

The officers who took Carol Gotbaum into custody didn’t know her identity at the time, police said. They handcuffed her, took her from the scene and, because they didn’t believe she was a threat to herself or others, placed her alone in a holding room.

Minutes later, they found her dead.

There is plenty of video and eye witness accounts that support the Phoenix PD and their handling of the situation.  Where is Mr. Manning now?   Evidently he forgot that the entire time you are in an airport you are being filmed!  

Then work that into the fact he did not convey she had been previously interned in a mental institution, nor did he reveal she was an alcoholic and then say, if she was suicidal what the hell was she doing on an airplane where she could have killed all the passengers if we went off and did so much as open a door.

My heart goes out for their loss, but to start swinging accusations is just so wrong.  Also very interesting that days after her death and family arrival here, they have spent every day doing press releases and interviews and now suddenly when the police provide video of arrest and transcript of husband’s acknowledgement that she was know to be out of control …now suddenly they want to be left alone by the media "to grieve". You weren’t much interested in grieving those first few days, but now that the investigation isn’t quite going your way you need privacy!

Technorati Tags: Carol Gotbaum , Michael Manning, phoenix airport, phoenix police

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