PHOENIX (AP) -- The family of a New York woman who died in police custody at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city, accusing officers of using excessive force and contributing to her death.

Carol Anne Gotbaum's family criticized police following her Sept. 28 death in an airport holding cell, and their lawsuit claims that officers failed to follow department policies that would have kept her safe.

"If they followed their policies, Carol would be alive today," family lawyer Michael Manning said.

Gotbaum, step-daughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, was headed to an alcohol rehabilitation program in Tucson on the day she died. She was upset after missing her connecting flight, and police stopped her as she wandered through the terminal screaming "I'm not a terrorist!"

Manning didn't say in the lawsuit how much money the family wanted from the police department, but he filed an $8 million wrongful-death claim against the city in March. The suit was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Police spokesman Joel Tranter wouldn't comment about the lawsuit, but the department has previously rejected claims that it's responsible for Gotbaum's death.

Stephen Craig, a lawyer for Phoenix police, criticized Gotbaum's family for blaming police in a March 26 letter to the family's lawyers.

In the letter, Craig pointed out that the family knew of Gotbaum's fragile mental state and her problems with alcohol. Still, Craig said, nobody accompanied her to the treatment program in Arizona.

"The thrust of the Gotbaum family claim is that the city of Phoenix police officers should have been more supportive than Carol's own husband, more knowledgeable than her own family, and should somehow have known that she suffered from a private condition that she deliberately hid from the public."

He added that Phoenix police made almost 4,500 arrests for disorderly conduct, loud noise and drinking last year.

"Is there anyone seriously suggesting that the officers should place a 24-hour suicide watch on each 'drunk and disorderly' suspect they arrest? That they should put their arms around their shoulders, sit them down, and give them some attention?" Craig wrote. "Or is this treatment only for the wealthy and politically influential?"

Gotbaum, 45, left her family in New York to seek help with drinking problem. She arrived in Phoenix alone on Sept. 28, and headed to a connecting flight to Tucson.

According to the lawsuit, she didn't make her connection in time and was bumped from the flight. She started drinking at the terminal and called her husband. When she was denied from boarding a second flight to Tucson, Gotbaum became distraught.

Officers stopped her, took her to the ground, handcuffed her, and then shackled her to a bench in a terminal holding cell.

She was later found dead with her hands up near her neck. An autopsy concluded Gotbaum accidentally hanged herself on her shackles.

The lawsuit contends that police failed to follow a number of policies during the arrest, including requirements to:

-ask for medical attention for people believed to be sick or injured;

-keep mentally or physically impaired prisoners in sight at all times;

-use reasonable force when detaining people.

"They knew she was mentally and physically disabled" Manning said, "yet they took her to the ground, tackled her, handcuffed her, shackled her, and never during this episode did they call for medical input."

In addition to the officers involved, the lawsuit also names the city of Phoenix and Police Chief Jack Harris. It says the city and the police department has been "deliberately and callously indifferent to the care and safety of citizens" by allowing officers to be indifferent to people with medical conditions.

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