The City of Phoenix and its police department are responsible for the death of Carol Anne Gotbaum, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday by the family of the woman, who died shackled and alone in an airport holding cell there last September. The stepdaughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Carol Anne, 45, was on her way to an alcohol-rehab program when Phoenix cops said she began acting wild at an airline terminal and had to be restrained. The wrongful-death suit, filed on behalf of Carol Anne's three young children and not her husband, Noah, was for unspecified damages, but an initial notice of claim filed on March 26 asked for $8 million. "The Phoenix police are quick to say that they did this by the book. This complaint makes it very plain that what was done here shouldn't have been done - by their own policies and procedures and national standards," said family lawyer Michael Manning. "The treatment was wholly improper and, ultimately, lethal." Spokesmen for Phoenix and its police department declined comment.

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