Family seeks $8 million in Phoenix airport death

The family of a woman who died last year while in police custody at Phoenix, Arizona's, Sky Harbor International Airport haved filed an $8 million claim against the city of Phoenix and its police department. This is the first step in filing a wrongful death suit.

Such deaths occur relatively frequently, not just in the US but around the world. The UK has had its fair share of custodial deaths. Without wanting to prejudice anything, it does seem that police and prison officers sometimes overeact when confronted with hysteria or abnormal activity. It is always put down to the apprehended person just being a damned nuisance at best or an evil-minded terrorist at worst. They seem oblivious to senility, or diabetic/epileptic fits, or any other complaint. I've been in the company of someone having a diabetic fit in public and was looked on as if I was comforting a drunk. Also, I've witnessed an epilepic fit. I've seen the results of drugs, drinking, and debauchery. Not all three in myself, but in others. The human body cannot always cope.

Maybe the stereotypes the police think of are just as bizarre as our steretypes of the police? But in this case, as in so many others, why on earth was a vulnerable woman not given 24-hour monitoring? Here, the Phoenix Police department does have some answers to give!