"Phoenix officials rejected an $8 million wrongful-death claim from the family of Carol Gotbaum an hour after it was filed Wednesday, and they issued a strongly worded letter laying the blame on her husband for letting the troubled New York woman fly to Arizona alone.
Gotbaum, a 45-year-old mother of three, died in a Phoenix police holding cell at Sky Harbor International Airport last September after being taken into custody over a disturbance at a departure gate. Shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday, attorneys for her husband, Noah Gotbaum, filed the wrongful-death claim, a precursor to a lawsuit.
The claim alleges that police violated national police procedures and their own internal rules by using "excessive and unreasonable force on Carol, as if she was a dangerous criminal, rather than as the sick, intoxicated and vulnerable person she was." It also alleges that Gotbaum was improperly cuffed."
Faceoff set over death at airport