Video clip from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport’s surveillance cameras that shows Carol Ann Gotbaum, 45, being detained by police.
Carol Ann Gotbaum was found unresponsive in her holding room minutes after she was arrested on Friday afternoon about 3:00 p.m, September 28, 2007. CPR was performed by police officers and paramedics were rushed to the scene of the holding room. She was eventually pronounced dead and her death is under investigation. The event occurred one day after airport rescuers used CPR and an automated external defibrillator to save Joann Vargo, 68, after she collapsed while waiting for a shuttle bus. Joann Vargo was found not breathing and unresponsive near a luggage collection area.
Arrest procedures and level of force used to take down Carol Ann Gotbaum and detain her are being questioned by the media and witnesses. Two witnesses called in to CNN after the incident.
Partial transcript of Paige Harmon’s witness account on CNN Anderson Cooper telephone interview:
Anyway, and then they — in all of this, somebody — one of the officers leaned down and pressed on her back. And then all of them were on her almost like they did a football tackle hold, and they got the — they got the handcuffs on her. And then an officer came up to us and said, “move it along. Move it along. This isn’t anything for you to witness or for you to see.” And so we reluctantly walked away.
The full transcript of CNN Anderson Cooper’s 360 Degrees interview which aired October 2, 2007 2300 ET is linked here.
There may have been exaggerated claims that Carol Anne Gothbaum was unconscious when she was carried away. The video shows that she appears to be conscious while she is carried toward the foreground at the end of the video.
WCBSTV Report ctober 5, 2007 8:45 AM ET