PHOENIX -- A 45-year-old woman who was in police custody after being arrested for disorderly conduct in a Phoenix airport terminal died in a holding room while apparently struggling with her handcuffs, police said.

Carol Ann Gotbaum, 45, left alone in the room, was possibly trying to break free from the handcuffs when she got them entangled around her neck, said Sgt. Andy Hill of the Phoenix Police Department.

Hill said a medical examiner will have to make a final determination as to the manner and cause of death.

Gotbaum is the daughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, the Daily News reported in Sunday editions.

"We are extraordinarily upset," said Gotbaum.

She added that her daughter-in-law had three young children.

Gotbaum spoke briefly to media across the street from her Manhattan building on Sunday.

"It's obviously very, very difficult for us, we are dealing with it as best we can. My number one focus is those children and my stepson. I hope the press will consider our feelings and please, please, please don't ask us any more questions," she said.

The flier went into medical distress and lost consciousness, Hill said.

Officers administered CPR and firefighters joined in when they arrived at Terminal 4, but their sustained efforts could not revive her.

According to witnesses, Friday afternoon's incident at Sky Harbor International Airport began when Gotbaum was unable to board her flight and started arguing with a gate attendant, Hill said.

Gotbaum was denied entry to a US Airways Express flight headed to Tucson because she was late arriving at the gate and the plane was already preparing to depart, US Airways spokesman Derek Hanna said Saturday.

She was rebooked on the next flight, but "she became extremely irate, apparently running up and down the gate area."

A number of witnesses told officers they observed Gotbaum yelling and screaming while running through the terminal, according to Hill.

Two officers who initially responded approached her as she was going past the security checkpoint area back into the terminal, Hill said.

The officers were not able to calm Gotbaum and eventually arrested her for disorderly conduct, Hill said.

Woman Enraged, Witnesses Say

Gotbaum initially resisted being handcuffed, but she was finally taken into custody near the security checkpoint, according to Hill.

The woman was whisked to a police holding room office in terminal 4.

A number of police employees were in the room at the time, Hill said. Gotbaum was placed in an individual holding room by herself in handcuffs.

When officers outside the door did not hear her voice, they went in to check on her and found her unconscious.

Second Airport Scare In Two Days

On Thursday, firefighters and police officers revived a 68-year-old woman who collapsed at Sky Harbor as she waited for a shuttle bus.

Airport spokeswoman Julie Rodriguez said the woman was unresponsive and not breathing after she collapsed.

Officers at the scene began chest compressions and rescue breathing and used an automated external defibrillator that had been on a wall.

When firefighters arrived, they used the defibrillator again, and that's when the woman's pulse returned.

She was the 17th person to be saved by an automated external defibrillator since the devices were installed at the airport in late 2000.

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