OK, and this has WHAT to do with the particular airline?

Late for a flight, denied boarding, gets out of line. Airline NOT responsible.

Before all the trolls get here, let me summarize the two types of comments to follow:

1)The snotty bitch threw a tantrum and made her own bed
and
2) The evil TSA and Airport cops are evil killers.

@Hanke

You're not allowed to say anything good about US Air here. And in fact, you're apparently supposed to go out of your way to besmirch US Air even when they may not necessarily deserve it (which I'll freely admit, isn't all that often).

Whatever it is, it's still a shame she died.

This is not blaming the victim, but if you're going to Tucson from Phoenix why not drive it? It's like a 2 hour drive.

@Hanke: Calm down. It's just a way to link the story. How else would we know that this passenger was the same one in the last story

I've read about this story a couple of places - so was she late and just trying to skip the screening process - like run around it and stopped? I mean I haven't flown anywhere in the past 6 years, but I even know that you need to get to the airport very early to get through all the processes. If a person is late, that does not give them special treatment to get past all the security - otherwise everyone would just show up late and expect to be hurried on.

@Sudonum: I think we would all prefer that someone checking into rehab for alcoholism not drive.

@Sudonum: Alcoholic? Possibly no license?

I dont know about cops being killers, but the airport police and TSA being negligent would not surprise me.

@coan_net: I don't think she was entirely normal at the time, considering she was on her way to a help facility. Normally, I would agree with you, but there was something amiss that she didn't have control of. The police should have recognized this and rendered assistance, but it looks like they may have fallen into the "sit down, shut up, if you twitch we'll drag you off to Gitmo" mentality that airlines and airports have that has me hating having to fly these days.

FYI People often go to rehab drunk.

@lalahsghost:

I agree. Sad things happen, and sometimes it is no one's fault. This is just a sad tragic accident. I can understand the family's grief and there is no reason an investigation shouldn't be done.

@coan_net: ... and blaming the victim is a little uncalled for when the victim isn't in control of their actions as normally would be the case.

@coan_net: she wasnt trying to get past security, she was trying to actually board the flight. The plane was still at the gate but they refused her boarding rights. I can understand their reasoning so really the Airline isnt at fault here (nor is anyone really blaming them)

The airport on the other hand broke many procedures relating to treatment of prisoners, none the least being you NEVER LOCK SOMEONE UP IN A CELL IN HANDCUFFS BEHIND THEIR BACKS! You bring them in, close the door, and ask them to turn around and put their hands through so you can remove the cuffs. Whats worse, not only did they handcuff her... the shackled her to a wall. Its no wonder she freaked out and accidentally hung herself trying to get out of them. Even being handcuffed behind your back for a couple of minutes is enough to make someone who is already unstable panic and flip out. This is why the dont use handcuffs on crazy people, but straight jackets so they cant hurt themselves.

I wonder if the initial freakout started because she realized that she'd be alone in an airport with bars all over the place while she waited for the next flight. Very sad story... I'm curious to know if any surveillance video of the incident will be released. (I'm assuming that there's cameras all over the place in airports)

Bullshit. If the victim was drunk then you blame no one but the victim. If she was on her way to rehab it would have been nice if she had a friend. If she was that belligerant from being drunk she wouldn't have made it on the plane anyway.

We'll wait for the details, but the police are not babysitters and the easiest way to avoid this situation is to not get in the situation in the first place.

Bottom line, had she not committed the actions that led to her being detained she would not have died in custody. The question of whether it was appropriate to detain her seems to be answered already.

I'm surprised we haven't heard more from civilian witnesses. Sky Harbor is always busy. There were loads of people who witnessed her outburst, I'm sure of it. Someone out there can fill in the blanks. There's WAY more to this story.

For example, as mentioned in the main Gawker comments, why was she traveling alone if she was unwell? Did her family not know where she was/what she was doing? And was this incident less about "OMG fascist airport security" and more about her being completely 100% out of control? If anyone here has ever truly seen a person lose it in public, you know it's a scary site. You just want that person to be taken AWAY, somewhere, anywhere. Whatever the truth, I have a feeling this is going to get much, much messier.

@BURAN... but blaming the airline for not knowing that they were dealing with an unstable person isnt appropriate either. If this poor woman wasnt in control of her actions, someone should have been with her, at least to help her board the plane. Regardless of how possible that is for her, it is NOT the responsibility of the airline or security to provide care for a mentally unstable individual who is creating a disturbance. In this day and age, youre lucky to not get shot trying to skip screening.

I think that most sensabile people know that the airline security and police are overreacting on a regular basis over converns of terrorism. Its probably not the best idea to go to the airport with an attitude.

We cant blame the victim or the police or the airline, because we simply dont have the details yet.

@LTS!:

Quoting your comment on the last post:

You know regardless of whether you are right or wrong in this.. why do so many people feel compelled to jump to a conclusion? ight now you know that someone who created a scene and refused to cooperate with authorities in an airport then died in a holding cell. Until you know more don't you think it's wise to wait for more information? Do you just blindly assume anyone who tells you anything is lying? How do you get through the day? Once you know the facts, then start with your derisive comments, etc. That is unless you are some almighty being who knows all.

So I guess now that you've found out that she had a drinking problem (for which she was on her way to get help), you're ready to start with the almighty, all-knowing, derisive victim-blaming.

@EVERYONE: People, the woman DIED. Show a little class. Or if you have none, a little humanity.

@Buran: Just curious as to how the police/security should have recognized that she was not in control? How does one tell the difference between a violent person and one "not in control?" What is the difference? Are you implying she was drunk at the time?

@Consumerist Moderator - ACAMBRAS: You're asking way too much of this group.

@LTS!: There still remains the question of whether the procedures followed when detaining her were appropriate. Leaving handcuffed individuals unsupervised != kosher.

To be sure, there is personal responsibility on her part for getting into the situation in the first place. That doesn't absolve any other parties of their role.

It's a sad event all around, BUT she was obviously doing something she shouldn't after being detained (trying to get out of the handcuffs). People sometimes to stupid things and you can't possibly babysit them 24/7. We must hold ourselves accountable for our actions from time to time.

@Javert: Its not the job of the police to recognize if someone is in control or not. It IS the job of the police to assume they are not no matter what and take specific precautions dealing with them.

Generally few people are violent for violence sake, just about everyone who is uncontrollably violent like she was apparently is under the influence of something, or has other psychological issues. As a police officer its your duty to respond to that much differently than you would respond to say a criminal.

Just remember the should be headline:
Bush lied, the TSA Tried, and alcoholics died

Ugh. Saying she deserved to DIE because she wasn't following the airline's rules is just about the nastiest, most soulless thing I've ever heard.
I hope her Stepmother-in-law sues that airline for a fucking crapload of money.

It seems really odd to me that a person who was described as being terrified, confused, and out of control would be left alone while handcuffed, but I don't know what the protocol for these things are. What a shame.

Whoa, so being mentally ill and/or drunk warrants a death sentence? Since when? It seems like based on some of the reasoning here, she deserved to be in custody so she deserved whatever she got thereafter. Check the constitution, that's not how it's supposed to work.

More to the point, I still haven't seen any plausible explanation of how a person with handcuffs behind their back can strangle themselves. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

@Lonestar:
No justice, no peace! :(

@badteaparty:

These are the same people that explain away suicide with a pump shotgun

@duckyvoodoo: @SVreader: @badteaparty:

THANK YOU -- islands of reason in a sea of victim-blaming.

@Falconfire: You seem to know a lot about alleged procedures there. You have this on what authority?

"They say I should go to rehab, but I say No, No, No."...Thank You to Amy Winehouse.

I'm with "VERAIKON AT 11:26 AM....There's WAY more to this story."

Know who I feel bad for? Who I think the victim is? The poor bastard 60k a year cop that just wanted to go home to his family and who BY ALL ACCOUNTS FOLLOWED PROTOCOL but now has to deal with this for the rest of his life. Of course, no one can dare step outside their ideologies to see that.

More victim blaming indeed.

Why is a sick person flying alone?

@Sudonum:
The NYT article indicated she lived in New York City. She may not have had a drivers license.

@OKH: How we we really know he followed protocol? Gotta a link to an objective source, if so, please share.

Ok, here goes my viewpoint. Not knowing too much except what I have read.

1- trying to bypass security measures is obviously wrong. Go through and request one of those little cart things that beep to take you there.

2- Detaining her was the right thing to do. Once they arrested her and questioned her, her flight would have been long gone by then.

3- The airline is negligent in my eyes IF THEY LEFT HER ALONE IN THERE. If you are detaining a person, for whatever reason, you should be responsible for them. Even if she tries to commit suicide, there should have been someone there to try to stop her.

So all in all, it's sad that she died. There were mistakes on all ends of this spectrum. And that is why I'm not in law enforcement or any aspect of the judicial system. My views may be radical, but they would be effective.

Also, one last thought. If they hadn't detained her and she died on the plane, would it still be viewed as the airlines fault?

@OKH: The cop died? This is news to me. Last I checked, the victim DIED. Do you have a callous disregard for human life? Sounds like it from your comments.

Regardless of who might be at fault, it is just plain sad that this had to happen. I really feel for this woman's friends and family. It's a HUGE step for someone to enter recovery for any type of substance addiction. It can be really scary to make a change and deviate from a habit that has continued for many miserable and depressed years. Also, it is a proven fact that alcoholics can die from alcohol withdrawal and they require medical detoxification (usually involving a drug such as Librium) to do so safely. Even if the cop's were justified in the arrest, they should have brought her to a hospital, not a jail cell. People going into rehabs are not weekend warriors, they are very sick people with a disease. I once had a friend who had an addiction to opiates, he was getting his fix for the night to hold him over comfortably until he entered rehab the next morning. Anyway, he was pulled over that night and the officer found the drugs. When he told the officer he was entering rehab the next morning, the officer let him go. If it isn't a violent offense, treatment is always better then jail time (which solves nothing.)

Not entirely sure why no one here seems to understand the term [b]"In policy custody"[/b].

Whether or not she is to blame,etc., when someone is in police custody, it is the job of the police to make sure that person doesn't hurt themself or others. They obviously failed.

On the "out of control" issue...here's what I don't understand.

On one hand, you've got armed, trained security people who have numbers and weapons on their side.

On the other hand, you have a single woman, 5'7", 110 lbs.

Every time I see 50 cops piling on one 5'6" guy, I think of them watching too many training movies that show kids turning into The Hulk on PCP or something.

How would they have differentiated between her disturbed state and other, more dangerous states? Oh, I dunno...experience maybe? Instead of hiring people at $12.50 an hour for airport security, maybe having a few honest-to-goodness cops around to know the difference between a housewife on the way to rehab and a drugged out fiend intent on ripping arms out of sockets? Because while you and I might not know the difference, I have to believe any experienced bouncer would. And a good cop DEFINITELY would.

My mistake for not RTFA. The cops did get to her, not just airport security, it seems. Either way, my point is that excessive force is just that, and I'm tired of seeing the supposed "strongest" of us being afraid of every single person. Don't the police have any ability to estimate true risk anymore?

I guess the only question I have is why was she still handcuffed if she was in a holding cell. That would seem a bit excessive to me, but since I wasn't there, all I can do is speculate.

@cde: I'm just tired of seeing stories here that give the appearance of demonizing a (for the moment) innocent party. US Airways didn't cuff her, the police did. US Airways didn't leave her alone in a holding cell, the police did. She wasn't in US Airways custody, she was in police custody. She wasn't restratined by US Airways, she was restrained by the police. See the theme here?

I know I'm not the only person with this complaint; as much as walmart gets demonized here (and in most cases rightfuly so) if a story should show up about some shoplifter being arrested there who later dies in PD custody, guss what the headline says?

"WALMART SHOPPER DIES...after shoplifting arrest"

@hypnotik_jello:
"Last I checked, the victim DIED."

Victom of what? The autopsy hasn't been done yet.

@Leiterfluid:
"but since I wasn't there, all I can do is speculate."

That's probably the most sensible comment on this thread.

@coan_net:
Wrong.
Go back and read about it again.
At no point was it even implied in anyway that she tried to avoid security. Plainly put, this has nothing to do with security.
She was late. By the time she got to the gate, the plane she was supposed to be on was pulling out of the gate. It's got literally nothing to do with security. As a matter of fact, they called the local police department who handled things.