They wouldn’t let her go to rehab and she said no, no, no.
(Tip of the hat to the amazing Amy Winehouse.)
By now, you’ve probably heard about Carol Gotbaum, the woman who was found dead after being arrested for disorderly conduct at the Phoenix airport — the result of not being allowed to board a flight from Phoenix to Tucson. It turns out she was on her way to Tucson to check herself into an acohol rehabilitation facility. She was late for her flight (I would imagine because her flight to Phoenix was delayed, but I could be wrong about that) and when she got to the gate in Phoenix, the gate crew wouldn’t let her board. She got angry, and the authorities detained her. A short while later, they found her dead.
Her family smells a rat, and I have to admit that after reading more of the details, I do too.
I’m not defending Ms. Gotbaum’s behavior in the airport — reportedly running around, flailing her arms, and screaming — but I think there must have been extenuating circumstances in this case. The woman was on her way to an alcohol treatment facility in Tucson; is it possible she could have already been experiencing some withdrawal symptoms that contributed to her erratic behavior? I am personally acquainted with more than one recovering alcoholic, and I know that the process of getting sober can be difficult in the extreme. I can only imagine what Ms. Gotbaum must have been feeling, both physically and emotionally, as she made her way from New York to Arizona this past Friday. I have come close to doing what Ms. Gotbaum allegedly did in the airport myself when faced with uncaring, unhelpful airline employees and a delay that, nine times out of ten, was the airline’s fault to begin with, so while I don’t defend her reaction, I don’t condemn it, either.
My heart goes out to her family, and I hope this tragedy forces airlines and airport police to re-examine their procedures when dealing with passengers, even irate ones. Ms. Gotbaum was sick and trying to get help, and the undoubtedly crappy attitude of the airline employees coupled with her treatment at the hands of the arresting officers likely exacerbated an already precarious situation.
