I am not afraid of flying. I am in terror of airport security. I drove to Chicago, rather than fly because I feel fear for my life when I deal with security. They treat 45 year old housewives like terrorists. They arrest people who clazim to be sick, but don't give them medical attention. Then they tell incredible stories. They claim that she strangled herself:

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, of the upper West Side, died less than an hour later, after cops claim she apparently strangled herself while trying to escape from the handcuffs in a holding cell at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The story of her strangling herself seems less than likely to me. It appears to be physically difficult, if not impossible for her to have done this to herself.

A CNN commenter nails it:

First off unless she is a contortionist I can't for the life of me figure out how she got the cuffs around her neck, as the obvious means to get your hands to the front of your body would be to bring them under you butt and under your legs. I'm a Professional Escape Artist and the average person could not bring them up over their heads without proper practice and training. So I would definetly question this situation that the police stated happened, "by accident". It sounds to me that it was staged. Secondly from what I know here in NY a prisoner is not to be left in a cell with just handcuffs on unless the cell is watched by video with someone monitoring it or an officer can view the cells physically. Something definetely stinks in this situation and unfortunately we have again another police/security situation of people not doing their jobs and a person who's only crime was missing a flight. The response from the police was incredible and still can't figure out why they made the statement that she wasn't tazer'd or pepper sprayed. I guess if they didn't do that then what they did was right

Experts interviewed by the MSM said the same thing.(update 2)

But former law enforcement officers and police tactics trainers said it would be very unusual for that to happen. "I can't imagine anatomically how you could do that," said Roy Bedard, a former police officer who now trains officers in defense tactics, including how to use handcuffs and other restraints. "I have a hard time seeing how you could get tangled up in them."

There are not many facts presented in the reports, but if she claimed to be sick she should have been given medical attention and not left alone.

If this could happen to a 45 year old housewife, who is a family member of one of New York's leading families, it could happen to anyone.

Update (Note: I have been struggling to even add comments to my diary because my computer is tied up by the script with all the comments.)

Her family has hired a well-known Arizona attorney to investigate. He explained that she was flying to Tucson for treatment for alcoholism. He did not explain that alcoholics who have gone dry are subject to panic attacks. I know. My sister was an alcoholic. The behavior described in the airport reminds me of several times my sister had gone dry while visiting Los Angeles. She started going into complete panic.

I suspect Carol Gotbaum panicked when she missed her flight