Driver In Fatal Taconic Crash Vomited Twice Before Collision

The woman who killed eight people, including herself, when she drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway vomited twice on the side of the road before the collision. Police reports obtained by the Post reveal that just under two hours before the fatal crash — witnesses "noticed an adult female outside of the vehicle with brown hair, wearing blue, knee-length shorts, bent over with her hands on her knees, as if throwing up."

Witnesses later spotted a red minivan, like Diane Schuler's, "zigzagging in and out of traffic," before they encountered the "same van pulled over" and the woman "again with her hands on her knees." Despite her husband's claims that Schuler wasn't a heavy drinker or drug user, an autopsy revealed that her blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit and that she had recently smoked marijuana. Her sister-in-law also testified that she drank and smoked pot regularly.

Though forensic experts couldn't say whether Schuler kept drinking after vomiting, an attorney for the victims' families said the news "would indicate she had a lot more alcohol than we know about."

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By Ben Muessig in News on November 9, 2009 5:50 PM

Comments [rss]

WorksInDUMBO

The scumbag lawyer for the Schuler family was on the news last night, and he was saying something along the lines of, "if she was puking, then her body wasn't metabolizing the liquor, so she couldn't have been as drunk as they are saying." SUCH a crock. If you are drunk enough to be puking on the side of the road, then you are fucked up.

and marijuana + a ton of vodka WOULD make you sick. Adding marijuana to that amount of liquor would give you the spins. (file under: Things I Learned in College)

JenChungsBaby

Seriously. Ten beers = doable. Ten beers + a joint = sometimes not-so-doable.

poetofsorts

this is still terrible and sad but no matter how much evidence they keep digging up we are never going to know what really happened or why she did what she did. Honestly, they need to leave it alone. Let the families grieve and deal with it.

Steven

Agreed. People always want to know answers to questions, but sometimes there aren't any answers.

robingee

Anyone who drinks in the morning on a family camping trip has serious problems. Driving drunk and committing vehicular manslaughter notwithstanding.

SheilaE

It was't the same witnesses that saw her on rt 17 getting sick, then weaving, then getting sick on rt 87. It was

multiple wintesses at different locations that came forward to police.

nyactorgirl

I just can't believe the husband, after all of this evidence, is still desperately trying to clear his wife's name. The cats out of the bag. He needs to face the facts.

ANGRYGOD11

It's not an easy thing to admit you let your wife, daughters and nieces die because you didn't notice how messed up she was. How do you admit this to yourself, the son that survived the crash, and the parents of your dead nieces and not go insane? I'm not even adding the other crash victims simply because they aren't people he's going to deal with for the rest of his miserable life, except when he tries to sleep.

AHT

I think he knew perfectly well what was going on. This isn't denial, it's a cover-up, and it's failing.

Ten bucks says the home life was that miserable that downing a bottle of vodka and pretty much committing suicide was preferable to going home. It's a shame she had no other way to reach out, and that she had to take so many children with her.

adeez

It wasn't the herb that made her puke.

snickerdoodle

So who exactly can the families sue? The woman's dead. You can't blame the husband for her recklessness. It's entirely possible that he was not aware how bad an alcoholic she really was.

I'm tired of this story. It's a tragic story. Just one of many that happens every day.

altoid

good question! who do you sue when the one repsonsible is dead?

JenChungsBaby

Her estate. Whoever owned the minivan (bet his name is on the title). The car insurance company. Whoever may have been complicit in allowing her to drive while intoxicated.