8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway #2

[deelytful1]

I think it's just seductive...take a little, wear the edge off, take a little more, lose your judgement to stop drinking.

I think control freaks are living under an illusion...They control parts of their lives very well, while the rest of their lives can be a complete disaster.

She kept her problems so bottled up that implosion was inevitable.

Good choice of words... and ITA

 

[Nova]

deelytful1, at the speed she was traveling, Diane spent less than 90 seconds (1.7 miles at nearly 1.3 miles per minute) going the wrong way. An eternity for the drivers trying to avoid her, but not all that long, especially if she was functioning in a blackout.

 

[Nova]

I don't think this was addressed in the doc. Was it true that Diane's cell had been used in a long (7 hour) conversation the night before the accident? I remember speculation that one of the Schuler's may have been involved with another person.

There's a post earlier on this thread (maybe from twinkiesmom?) that explains the 7-hour figure was an error in reporting.

 

[twinkiesmom]

I don't think this was addressed in the doc. Was it true that Diane's cell had been used in a long (7 hour) conversation the night before the accident? I remember speculation that one of the Schuler's may have been involved with another person.

There was a reported 9-hour call that was later corrected to be 9 min IIRC. In other words, there was no extended call.

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...-1-year-later-lasting-wreckage-many-questions
Staff writer Shawn Cohen contributed to this report.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction, July 27, 2010
As many readers have noted, the mysterious call made from Diane Schuler's cell phone on the night before the July 26, 2009 fatal crash on the Taconic State Parkway lasted 9.7 minutes, not more than 9 hours as previously reported. The error was due to a misreading of cell phone records obtained from police that listed the duration of calls in seconds, not minutes. In this instance the call lasted 587 seconds.

There was a "wrong number call" dialed from Diane's phone that was considerably short that some suspected one of the kids in the car dialed from her list of programmed numbers...but I've never heard that rumor validated as fact.

 

[twinkiesmom]

I wonder why the Bastardis did not see her coming unless they were both heading around a curve or up a hill precipice? Anyone know?

As a driver for 30 years, I've had that feeling of being in the "wrong lane" or the actual experience of turning into the wrong lane or heading the wrong way down a one way street and although it's fleeting, it's a feeling of disorientation that is panic filled and thankfully, being sober I was able to correct the wrong immediately. What on earth was going through her mind as she watched all these cars coming towards her for miles???? Sigh...

A story for the masses that should be remembered forever!!

There was a curve, but I'm not sure how close it was to the accident site. It's clear that everyone who could have avoided her or gotten out of the way did. I've never heard whether the it was a curve, other adjacent cars, or not enough reaction time why the Bastardis were unable to get out of the way.

 

[Nova]

There was a curve, but I'm not sure how close it was to the accident site. It's clear that everyone who could have avoided her or gotten out of the way did. I've never heard whether the it was a curve, other adjacent cars, or not enough reaction time why the Bastardis were unable to get out of the way.

I have no idea what an oncoming car looks like when two cars approach at those speeds. And I don't remember enough math to calculate how many seconds the driver of the Bastardi car would have had once he was close enough to realize Diane was coming at him, but I can't imagine he had much time.

 

[arielilane]

What a man! What woman wouldn't want to be treated like a Goddess? Even after death. And this one killed innocent people. How cool is it to have a husband praise his beloved wife after death like that. Something all women/men would adore their own significant other to do for them. Good ole' Daniel. How can you explain it? I can't and wouldn't try. It can't be controlled by others. However, we can control how we move forward and how we can learn from this horrible tragedy. This incident needs to be in our schools/driving classes, billboards, commercials and ads. Diane was a tool. Let's use it as a tool.

Don't drink and drive.

 

[GutInstinct]

I watched the HBO video again. I don't like/trust the husband. It's still all about him. Poor him. What about the 8 who lost their lives? What about that precious little boy he has? When he said "maybe Diane thought she was drinking water" - he lost all credibility with me.

 

[Nova]

What a man! What woman wouldn't want to be treated like a Goddess? Even after death. And this one killed innocent people. How cool is it to have a husband praise his beloved wife after death like that. Something all women/men would adore their own significant other to do for them. Good ole' Daniel. How can you explain it? I can't and wouldn't try. It can't be controlled by others. However, we can control how we move forward and how we can learn from this horrible tragedy. This incident needs to be in our schools/driving classes, billboards, commercials and ads. Diane was a tool. Let's use it as a tool.

Don't drink and drive.

With all due respect, I think this case is too anomalous to serve as a very useful lesson.

If I understand the coroner's facts, Diane wasn't drunk or stoned from the night before. So I suppose she might serve as reminder not to drink and smoke dope for breakfast, but I don't think that's how most DUIs begin.

 

[Nova]

I watched the HBO video again. I don't like/trust the husband. It's still all about him. Poor him. What about the 8 who lost their lives? What about that precious little boy he has? When he said "maybe Diane thought she was drinking water" - he lost all credibility with me.

You are clearly in the majority, GI, but I think we need to remember those are edited remarks, chosen by a filmmaker out of God-only-knows-how-many hours of footage. I'm not saying the filmmaker meant to make Dan look bad, but I think she meant to show the toll taken on Dan, Jay and Bryan. So she chose a number of remarks where Dan is talking about the difficulties he faces.

 

[twinkiesmom]

With all due respect, I think this case is too anomalous to serve as a very useful lesson.

If I understand the coroner's facts, Diane wasn't drunk or stoned from the night before. So I suppose she might serve as reminder not to drink and smoke dope for breakfast, but I don't think that's how most DUIs begin.

I think you are making an assumption here...The high TCH in her blood means her last toke was within an hour of her death...That peak would mask whatever prior exposure was declining in her system....Doesn't mean there was nothing there. You would need serial blood samples from before the accident to establish that, not a single postmortem sample.

The single BAC also doesn't tell you what alcohol was on board when she started the trip....I suspect she was hung over and going through withdrawal when she left the campground. The logical conclusion is she mixed in the vodka in her McDonald's OJ while the kids played in the playpark....She was still "good Aunt Diane" to the kids at that point, and the 9-year-old would have known drinking and driving was bad.

 

[twinkiesmom]

With all due respect, I think this case is too anomalous to serve as a very useful lesson.

I think she serves a powerful lesson to mothers that superwoman doesn't exist, and secret nipping can get out of control.

The other lesson her is I believe I heard on the doco that she did not have a primary care physician. That is a huge mistake, particularly for a woman going into her 30s/40s. If she had not had this accident, she was likely headed to diabetes/heart attack/stroke given her weight and the drinking. I think a good primary care physician could have prescribed medication that alleviated her anxiety. I know it exists because my life has been changed for the better.

 

[Nefriahaia]

..... But just because she did this doesn't make her a horrible person.

In my eyes it does.

 

[Nova]

I think you are making an assumption here...The high TCH in her blood means her last toke was within an hour of her death...That peak would mask whatever prior exposure was declining in her system....Doesn't mean there was nothing there. You would need serial blood samples from before the accident to establish that, not a single postmortem sample.

The single BAC also doesn't tell you what alcohol was on board when she started the trip....I suspect she was hung over and going through withdrawal when she left the campground. The logical conclusion is she mixed in the vodka in her McDonald's OJ while the kids played in the playpark....She was still "good Aunt Diane" to the kids at that point, and the 9-year-old would have known drinking and driving was bad.

I will happily grant you all of that, tm.

But the issue in the post of mine you quoted was whether Diane would serve as an effective cautionary tale to warn others of the perils of DUI.

Those things you rightly say we don't know can't be part of the tale. So unless Dan gets his way and there is an exhumation and additional testing, we have to go with what the coroner CAN say: Diane smoked pot within an hour of the crash and she drank a large amount of vodka that morning (since some of it was still in her stomach).

So fine: point to Diane and caution against drugs for breakfast. But at the moment, that's all she can stand for.

 

[Nova]

I think she serves a powerful lesson to mothers that superwoman doesn't exist, and secret nipping can get out of control.

The other lesson her is I believe I heard on the doco that she did not have a primary care physician. That is a huge mistake, particularly for a woman going into her 30s/40s. If she had not had this accident, she was likely headed to diabetes/heart attack/stroke given her weight and the drinking. I think a good primary care physician could have prescribed medication that alleviated her anxiety. I know it exists because my life has been changed for the better.

If she was "likely headed to ... stroke", then isn't it possible Dan and Jay's speculations are correct? Just a question.

As for the "superwoman" problem, I agree with you except to say that's a conclusion we (both) draw with a good deal of speculation. I don't think speculation is a good basis for cautionary tales.

 

[twinkiesmom]

If she was "likely headed to ... stroke", then isn't it possible Dan and Jay's speculations are correct? Just a question.

As for the "superwoman" problem, I agree with you except to say that's a conclusion we (both) draw with a good deal of speculation. I don't think speculation is a good basis for cautionary tales.

No, the autopsy didn't lie...They would have seen a stroke. Just making the point that she was at risk for early death. That point of the doco made me sad for the Schulers at how uneducated they were...I think Spitz should have brought the autopsy down to their level and spelled out how a stroke was ruled out....They were in denial but also they don't get it.

I don't see it as speculation as much as a psychological autopsy based on witness statements....but you're right in that anything that requires deep thought is a poor cautionary tale....but I do think a case like this has the potential to influence culture.

 

[voxrock2000]

Hi All

This is my first post here; I am enjoying reading on this site. I have done as much research into this case as I possibly could from day 1. I drove that road all the time back then and had to drive over the charred spot as well as the 2 miles of skid marks of people veering out of her way that day. It took many weeks for all the skid marks to fade, it was haunting.

I have thought about what may have set off Diane that day. I am sure it was anger, at Daniel, at her brother, at her mother... maybe a lethal combination. Whatever events happened, I am convinced she became suidical and murderous and made a concious decision to end her life and take the children with her, to punish others.

One theory relates to her anger and abandoment issues with her mother. She cut her mother out of her life 27 years ago and never mentioned her to anyone. She got married and didn't invite her mother (though pictures of her with her father exist), had children, yet her mother never met her grandchildren and she deprived her children of their grandmother. That may have been fine when the kids were very small, but they were getting a bit older, 2 and 5. What if the nieces, who were a few years older, were talking about grandma over the weekend, her kids would also be curious. They would not know Diane's issues with this, it would be innocent children speaking. She could have been confronted with an obstacle she could not surmount, how to deal with her own kids asking about her mother. What would she say? She would have to come up with some explaination. It would bring it all back to her. The nieces could have been talking about some great time they had with grandma, or that they were going to see her soon, or anything about her in apositive loving way. This inevitable situation was a ticking time bomb in Diane's life, she knew the day would come when she would have to allow her children the free will to see their grandmother; perhaps she could not face this reality.

Also, Daniel Schuler initially claimed he went to the campsite early Thursday to 'get some fishing in', as he stated publicly in his live 'press conference', which he chose to do rather than keep an arranged interview (his first) with police. However, his ezpass records showed he really showed up Friday, just a couple of hours before Diane and the kids. So where was he? He later acknowledged that he arrived Friday on Larry King. You can't have it both ways. Maybe Diane figured out he was not where he was supposed to be. With their level of communication there is a good chance she never mentioned it to him that she knew, it just fed her anger.

Then there is the conversation with her brother, where she was so out of it she called him Danny. If she thought she was talking to her husband she may have revealed something she didn't want to tell her brother. Who knows what she told him in her then-drunken state of mind... maybe she picked up the fight they were having that morning, maybe she threatened to kill herself and the kids he never wanted anyway. Whatever it was it alarmed her brother enough to take off looking for her. She knew enough to ditch the cell phone and drive north instead of south in case he tried to track the phone, which the police tapes indicate they were trying to do.

Just my thoughts.

 

[ljwf22]

You made some good points, voxrock2000.
Especially the brother/mother/visiting angle.

:wagon:

 

[GutInstinct]

Something so painful stays with me from watching the HBO documentary. It is Daniel, himself, saying "I never even wanted to have kids". Imagine saying that. He has a Son. A Son that will someday listen to that video - hear those words. Never wanted...

I imagine that Diane was miserable with Daniel. And lonely.

 

[Nova]

No, the autopsy didn't lie...They would have seen a stroke. Just making the point that she was at risk for early death. That point of the doco made me sad for the Schulers at how uneducated they were...I think Spitz should have brought the autopsy down to their level and spelled out how a stroke was ruled out....They were in denial but also they don't get it.

I don't see it as speculation as much as a psychological autopsy based on witness statements....but you're right in that anything that requires deep thought is a poor cautionary tale....but I do think a case like this has the potential to influence culture.

You're right. The word "speculation" is too harsh. I just meant that while I agree with your assessment of Diane, we can't really know for sure from a couple of articles and a documentary.