Perhaps I am to hasty at assessing what heavy drinkers are capable of. I don't recall any evidence from the documentary that Schuler was a heavy drinker, but her blood alcohol level was .19 at the time of the accident. By comparison, Henri Paul (the driver when Lady Diana was killed) had a blood alcohol level of 1.75 grams per liter, which translates to .228 in the US. He got behind the wheel without much thought, so maybe my puzzlement is not justified.
For me, I does not matter if she was or wasn't a heavy drinker, or what she did in the past. All that matters to me are the actions of DS on that day during these hours. IMO - DS chose to drink a massive amount of alcohol and smoke pot, knowing she was responsible for 5 children (her own family) while driving that van.
Its been reported that DS left the campground around 9:30am and, with about a 2 1/2 hour drive, they all should have been home around 12pm. DS never drove home, rather she chose to drive around and around until she caused this fatal accident around 1:30pm. Her accident site is about 1 1/2 hours from her home - so she was nowhere near home after about 4 hours of driving.
I suggest that alcohol levels found in her system and stomach don't reflect the actual amount she consumed that morning. Several witnesses reported that they saw DS vomiting twice, once at the rest stop and another on the side of the road. If this is true, then DS stopped to vomit 2 times - and then continued to drink more alcohol.
IMO - DS took very deliberate actions that day, and we know the outcome of her actions. Why she chose to do this is the mystery - but she had a reason to do it, and it could be that this reason only made sense to her. What could anyone say now for a reason that would explain all of this? That she was mad at her husband, she did not want to get caught being drunk? Some deep seeded resentment at her mother? No reason could explain away the horror and pain DS has caused. I just know she did it.
In the news now, there is a father who is alleged to have killed his five young children - "Jones, 32, would lead investigators to his children’s bodies, wrapped in five trash bags on an isolated Alabama hilltop, but it’s still not clear — and may never be — why he killed his children, authorities said."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...174e8e-3993-11e4-a023-1d61f7f31a05_story.html