Hi, welcome back. Now I'll outline what angers me so much about this:
1. ...the new documents also show that Betsy Gotbaum, the New York public advocate and Gotbaum's mother-in-law, called the day of the death and asked Phoenix police to use Carol Gotbaum's maiden name in its reports to shield the Gotbaum family from publicity.
Seriously? Is this how things are done in New York? That someone who imagines themselves to be of some importance where they live can just call another police agency and receive that kind of special treatment? What is this? Mayberry? Her "beloved" daughter-in-law just died and her first thought is, "Oh, we gotta keep our name out of this." Damn, I'd be an alcoholic too with a M-I-L like that.
2. While a member of the flight crew recalls serving Gotbaum a cocktail in the galley, a passenger told authorities that said she didn't see Gotbaum drink alcohol.
I don't know, I mean, call me crazy, but I'm leaning towards the flight crew on this one. The "other side" has already been able to produce a "witness" who saw everything that happened (making the police the bad guys), in spite of the fact there was a camera disproving everything the "witness" told the authorities and we're supposed to believe them? Also, what passenger gives their FULL attention to anything the other passengers are doing? Even if they're sitting right next to the person, they can still fall asleep, get up to go to the bathroom, stare out the window, sit back in their seat, close their eyes and listen to a Walkman or MP3 player. For anyone to be THAT privy to the details of a passenger in their proximity on a cross country flight, well, they have to be a stalker. I believe the flight attendant. He or she has nothing to gain by lying whereas a private citizen might want nothing more than to see their name in the paper. There are loons everywhere.
3. Michael Manning, a Phoenix attorney who represents Gotbaum's husband and three young children, downplayed the drink Gotbaum may have had on the flight, noting that witnesses disagree about that.
Well, OF COURSE HE DOES and of course they do. Go to any accident scene and there might be ten witnesses to the accident. All ten will have a different version of events. Also, this guy is a hired gun. This guy is NOW a high priced hired gun. This guy is someone no one outside of the Phoenix courtrooms has ever heard of and he wants his name out there badly. Name recognition gets business. Now he's going to be known as "the guy who took care of the drunk woman's family."
3. The Gotbaum family, which has been critical of the police, has hired its own team of experts to probe the case.
Um, let's see... Carol Gotbaum, an obvious emotional problem walking, dies in the custody of the Phoenix police at an International Airport, thereby assuring it will make national news. Carol Gotbaums mother-in-law calls the Phoenix police to help her cover it up and they refuse. The Gotbaum family has fallen under intense scrutiny and criticism for not handling the delivery of their "beloved" daughter-in-law, wife, mother to the rehab center. Maybe it's just me but, do you think the Gotbaum family has an axe to grind with the Phoenix Police since, apparently unlike the New York City police, they refuse to kowtow to a wealthy family and get involved with a corrupt request? Do they have any reasons at all to want to deflect the attention away from them and onto the Phoenix Police department? To be honest, I don't know that "financial justice" really exists here in Arizona. I've never really seen it being made available to the highest bidder or the one with the most influence to pedal.
I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into this but the whole thing stinks like yesterday's garbage.
But who am I to judge, that's just my two cents.
