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Reports: Taconic Crash Driver Was Drunk

2009_07_schuler.jpg
Photograph of Diane Schuler with her husband Danny, son Bryan and daughter Erin
The state police are continuing to investigate the tragic July 26 crash on the Taconic Parkway that killed 8 people. Police have been retracing the route Diane Schuler took before somehow ending up on the wrong side of the parkway and crashing into a SUV, killing its three passengers. Schuler, her daughter and three nieces were also killed; the crash's only survivor was her five-year-old son. Update below: A toxicology report apparently indicates Schuler had a high blood alcohol content and traces of pot in her system.

Now state police, based on witnesses' reports, say a driver matching Schuler's description was driving "in an aggressive, erratic manner"—the minivan "was weaving in and out of traffic and straddling two lanes, with the driver honking her horn and flashing high beams on Route 17 and the New York State Thruway." Newsday adds, "At one point, the woman drove the minivan into the Ramapo service area and swerved across a grassy median. Another witness said she tried to pass him on the highway shoulder." While an initial autopsy revealed that Schuler appeared healthy, she did tell her brother, in a cellphone conversation 30 minutes before the crash, that she wasn't feeling well and was having trouble seeing.

2009_08_taconic.jpg Update: WCBS 2 apparently has details from a toxicology report: "The unreleased toxicology report apparently reveals that 36-year-old Diane Schuler had a blood alcohol content of .19, and traces of THC, the main substance found in marijuana, sources say. The legal limit for blood alcohol content is .08." The Journal-News says the findings were released with the victims' families but "State police Lt. Dominick L. Chiumento said he could neither confirm nor deny the reports."

Update, 5:45 p.m.: Some more details:

  • City Room: State police confirmed that Schuler's blood alcohol was 0.19; also, "a 1.75-liter bottle of Absolut vodka was found in the minivan."
  • Cops say that Schuler had about 10 drinks and she still had 6 grams of alcohol in her stomach when she was killed. It's unclear if she drank before or during the drive. (Also: Wikipedia's blood alcohol content chart)
  • 1010 WINS: "Tests also found she smoked marijuana up to an hour before the wreck."
  • Newsday: The deaths of the seven other victims are being investigated as homicides: The victims are "Schuler's 2-year-old daughter, Erin; her three nieces, Emma Hance, 8, Alyson Hance, 7, and Kate Hance, 5; and three Yonkers men in the SUV, Guy Bastardi, 49, and his father, Michael Bastardi, 81, and their friend, Daniel Longo, 73."

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Comments [rss]

  • Quran Teaching

    That's correct

  • valeriob

    If you're watching the prick lawyer on TV, he is saying that no alcohol was involved. What the hell is going on here?

  • PTG in nyc

    JenChungsBra has been spot on, which leads me to agree with him/her about the state of the relationship and why she did what she did (even though I don't agree with ripping on Jen Chung :) ).

    .19 BAC while toking the good stuff is awful, but it takes a truly deranged state of mind to drive as psychotically as she did. When I'm that ripped and having a good time, it's not like I'm perfect, but I'm also not recklessly going about my business with a blatant disregard for life.

    However, when people are that ripped and in emotional distress and hating life, they'll be a lot more reckless. My guess is that she was on a full suicide mission, but it's possible she was just completely deranged and shitfaced without wishing death upon herself and those around her.

    Either way, sounds like she was shitfaced because she was in a heinous mood about something, and that there's no possible way she was partying just for the fun of it on a Sunday morning.

    Those poor victims from Yonkers...

  • Stewart

    This has been classified as a homicide, however it does not seem as if charges will be filed. This woman was a monster. Seems like she committed suicide and took 4 children and 3 completely innocent men with her.

    These men are receiving little media attention: their names are Guy Bastardi, 49; his father, Michael Bastardi, 81; and a family friend, Daniel Longo, 74, all of Yonkers. The elder gentlemen were veterans of the Korean war.

    May they and the children rest in peace. And best wishes to the 5 year old who survived and will one day have to try to comprehend what his own mother did.

  • Snoopy

    "it does not seem as if charges will be filed." How do you file charges against a dead person? I can see if she had an estate, and charges could be filed against the estate, but against the dead individual?

  • MO

    If this woman had been black and poor, would there have been dozens of posts trying to avoid blaming her for her actions?

    She was drunk, she drove drunk, and she murdered people. End of story.

  • valeriob

    Where are you going with this?

  • tmz is evil

    Really? You don't get it? You don't see the double standard in the way ppl are reacting to all this? The evidence is there for everyone to see what she did, yet everyone wants to cut this person some slack and try to make excuses for her actions or find a "reasonable explanation" for why she recklessly endangered the lives of so many people. There ARE none. She was a selfish, evil person and was no less of scumbag than the black guy a few months ago who mowed down that young mother while DWI.

    BTW, oshma1963 only has it partially right. If she'd been poor and white, the entire world would still be condemning her actions because according to it, she'd be "trailer trash." Funny how when the middle class commits acts of recklessness, everyone wants to fight tooth and nail to "understand" their actions and ascribe their actions to human fallibility. Yet anyone else and they're just typical subhuman animals or "trash."

  • Steven

    Nightmare for the husband and family. He lost his wife, kids and now will get a lawsuit from the Bastardis' and Longos' family.

    Another good question is how long has she been smoking weed? Did the husband know she was doing drugs? Does he do drugs too?

  • dadoc

    Awwhh, Jeez, McD's food gave her a 0.19 at the time of death. Angus Deluxe, or even the horrific MegaBreakfast does not cause you to drive the wrong way down a highway for 1.7 miles in a van full of kids. And, OK, let's say you were wasted the night bfore. And, OK, lets say you have a Mimosa or Bloody Mary while you're loading up the kids. And OK, you've got a buzz, stop at McD's, top off that Diet Sprite with a healthy dollop of Absolut. And, OK, you keep chugging, make a drunken phonecall to your brother, you sound so bad he calls the SP, you drop your cellphone. Yeah, McD's sucks, but cameras, husband, etc are irrelevant. Drunk driver, dead people, nothing mysterious. Wish this had never happened, no mystery, enough, goodnight.

  • Snoopy

    "Investigators revealed Monday that Schuler had been driving erratically for nearly 60 miles before the fiery crash and stopped at a Liberty, N.Y., McDonald's on the drive home from a camping trip at the nearby Hunter Lake Campground.

    Her husband, Daniel Schuler, told police they left the campground around 9:30 a.m. and his wife was fine.

    Around 1 p.m., Schuler called her brother - whose daughters were in the car - and said she was sick and needed help driving.

    The brother, Warren Hance, called State Police in Tarrytown to say Schuler needed help. Troopers searched for the red minivan she was driving, but didn't find her in time.

    Around 1:30 p.m., Schuler entered the north-bound Taconic via an exit ramp."



    OK so they stopped off at the McDonald's in Liberty, NY which appears to be pretty close to where they were camping. So then she leaves the McDonalds and drives 60 miles erratically? It's only 90 miles from there to Tarrytown at the most.

    So let's say she stopped off at a nearby McD's at about 10AM ate and then got back in the van about 10:45. OK let's say 11:00. We are not talking fine cuisine here it's McD's. How the fuck do you go approximately 90 miles in two hours if you are driving erratically?

    Doesn't McD's have cameras that will give us a true picture of when they arrived and when they left?

    Not to be a smart ass here but McD's food can cause some serious problems. The food is total shit and gives me diarrhea every time I eat there.

    Back on point. What actually did she say to her brother that prompted him to call state police? And how did they react? Did they respond to it as a serious incident or a ho hum kind of thing?

  • dadoc

    Husband's irrelevant. Personal responsibilty. Entered vehicle either drinking and/or drank during the trip. Early in the AM, on an empty stomach (or even not empty), pounding Vodka, regardless of tolerance will easily get you to 0.19 & impaired. Also could've been carrying some BAC from the night before. Hair of the Dog, especially a very hairy dog, can kill you. Husband has nothing to do with the BAC. Although the inevitable lawyers will imply that he "should have or could have known" that she was wasted or at risk of such while operating with others in the vehicle. The stomach is a wonderful absorber of ethanol. Undigested ethanol in the gut is a very reliable indicator of very recent ingestion. And yes, I did spend quite a few moths in the ME's office.

  • Snoopy

    From Parksville to Tarrytown is about an hour and a half drive at the most. If she was smoked from drinking as claimed by her call to her brother I would find that hard to believe if she only started drinking at the beginning of the drive. If she was a heavy drinker then her tolerance level would be higher. An hour of drinking doesn't usually make you wack.

    I would really like to get more info on her husband before I make a final decision on what is going on here.

  • Snoopy

    “she was feeling disoriented and had trouble seeing,”

    One has to be a total stupid fucking asshole who is feeling disoriented and has trouble seeing to continue driving. Fortunately she died. Unfortunately she took too many others with her.

    The mystery continues to unravel. Was the smoke adulterated?

  • "Was the smoke adulterated?"???

    Huh? Seriously, What does that mean?

  • Snoopy

    Seeing there are so many lawn chair Monday morning detectives here how about the case of JonBenét Ramsey?

  • NannyState

    Suicide. JonBenet's life of performing and the pressure to be perfect drove her to stage her own death. It was all in the Weekly World News.

  • Snoopy

    DUH! You can lace marijuana with other drugs. Get it? Probably not.

  • Yeah, cause obviously the BAC had nothing to do with the crash. Must be laced MJ, right? Since MJ is such a harmless drug...

    Riiiiggghhhhhtttt.

  • verbal

    there's a special place in hell for stupid selfish twats like her.

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