No Charges For Taconic Crash Husband

The Westchester District Attorney's office announced that no charges will be filed against the husband of the woman who, while apparently drunk and high, crashed her minivan while driving the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, killing eight people. Westchester DA Janet Fiore said, "Diane Schuler died... and the charges died with her."

Fiore's office, Sullivan County DA Stephen Lungen and New York State Police have been investigating the July 26 crash. Diane Schuler left a campground in Parksville (in Sullivan County) with her two children and three nieces and drove back to Long Island(map here); husband Danny had left separately to go fishing. A toxicology report found she had a 0.19 blood alcohol level, with 6 grams of alcohol yet to be digested in her stomach, and traces of marijuana that indicated she had smoked it recently. Other drivers said she was driving erratically, but it's been difficult to understand when she might became impaired; on a surveillance tape from a Sunoco station along her route, Schuler appeared coherent.

Somehow, Schuler entered the Taconic State Parkway on the wrong side, hitting a SUV carrying three men— Guy Bastardi, 49, and his father, Michael Bastardi, 81, and their friend, Daniel Longo, 74. The men were killed as were Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter Erin and three nieces, Emma Hance, 8, Alyson Hance, 7, and Kate Hance, 5. Schuler's 5-year-old son survived and is currently at a Queens hospital, in rehabilitation for his head injuries.

Sullivan County DA Lungen said about the lack of charges, "There would have to be some evidence presented to me that directly links the husband to the condition of his wife or with knowledge of the condition of his wife when she left with the children... Really at this point, there's no one to be prosecuted in Sullivan County," and admitted the case was "frustrating." Still, many wonder if Daniel Schuler knew his wife had a drinking problem.