8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway #2

[southcitymom]

Have we heard anything public from Diane's husband or brother since her SIL talked about her being a regular alcohol and marijuana user?

 

[zippitydoda]

I Dream of Diane - What do you do with the grief and guilt when your wife drives the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway with a van full of kids and a body full of alcohol, and ends up in a crash that kills eight? You put her in a shrine

Read more: How Danny Schuler Is Handling the Aftermath of the Fatal Taconic State Parkway Crash Caused by His Wife, Diane -- New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/features/62043/#ixzz0XGKgyWMk

 

[daisy7]

ALBANY — New York State would make it a felony to drive while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle and would require first-time convicted drunken drivers to buy a device that prevents them from driving their cars if they have been drinking, under a bill passed by the State Assembly on Tuesday.

The measure, which would significantly toughen penalties for drunken driving, could be passed by the Senate and sent to the governor this week. It would make New York the second state, after Arizona, in which drivers under the influence of alcohol could be charged with a felony if they have children as passengers.

New York would also be one of only a dozen states that force drivers convicted for the first time of drunken driving to install what is called an interlock device, which measures the alcohol content of a driver’s breath and prevents the engine from starting if it detects too high a level.

The push for harsher drunken-driving penalties follows two recent crashes in New York in which children were killed while traveling with adults who had been drinking.

In July, a Long Island woman drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway in Westchester County and killed eight people, including her 2-year-old daughter and three young nieces. The driver, who also died, had a blood alcohol content of 0.19 percent, more than double the 0.08 percent that qualifies as being intoxicated while driving, and had marijuana in her system.

(snip)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/nyregion/18albany.html

 

[robinparten]

I Dream of Diane - What do you do with the grief and guilt when your wife drives the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway with a van full of kids and a body full of alcohol, and ends up in a crash that kills eight? You put her in a shrine

Read more: How Danny Schuler Is Handling the Aftermath of the Fatal Taconic State Parkway Crash Caused by His Wife, Diane -- New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/news/features/62043/#ixzz0XGKgyWMk

Wow. Danny and Diane lived in the same house, had children together, but really didn't know each other, in my opinion. Diane didn't let anyone see the real her. Danny had to be taken care of, just like the kids. It seems to me that Diane just internalized all her problems and issues, and they leaked out in the form of pot smoking and, apparently, alcohol abuse. I think this whole tragedy started probably like many other days did, for Diane. "I will put a little shot of vodka in with my OJ, it will help get me home with all these kids in the car. OK, just another shot, it will help smooth the edges........." And so it goes until she is wasted. She looked like the perfect wife, mother, employee, and she could not let anyone see the imperfections. How incredibly sad.

 

[PeteyGirl]

Interesting take on it Robinparten and fair, I think.

It's easier to let fly the rage at this woman, who bent her elbow to pour alcohol into her system knowing full well the dangers and illegality of it. It's also true that she was an alcoholic and addict, and had a husband who sounds like he needed as much supervision and care as her children. The way he's behaving now is the evidence. Imagine what kind of a partner he was to her, as incapable or unwilling as he is of placing responsibility where it belongs.

People like him don't just lie and act out in public, they are HELLIONS in private life, in day to day interactions. Temper tantrum throwing children in huge adult bodies, controlling and dishonest and manipulating everyone around them with anger and sulking.

Still, she always had choices. That is what, in the end, she is accountable for. She chose a path of destruction, a selfish path that relieved her momentary pain but never solved a single problem.

It doesn't matter how "sick" she was, and I truly believe she was in the grip of a disease. It doesn't absolve her of a single thing, she is as responsible for the deaths of 7 others as if she did what she did deliberately. That's the thing about the "disease" of alcoholism and addiction. There is always choice, every moment of every day she COULD have chosen a different path. There was no limit to the number of opportunities that presented themselves to her, over the years of her disease, to turn around and go in a different direction.

I say this as an ex drinker myself, with an abusive husband and a career that demanded a HUGE amount of responsibility that ate into my soul. I drank to give myself a MOMENT OF PEACE. As my body adjusted, I had to drink to not lose my mind entirely. One day, I took the opportunity, one of many many, to stop and get a grip. I made huge changes to my life, getting rid of both that job and that husband lol.

I'm so glad I did. When I heard about this horrible tragedy, I saw myself seven years ago.

 

[angelmom]

Very sad. Clearly Danny is delusional and has turned Diane into a saint in his own mind.

She never honked her horn? They never argued? Please. I've seen this before, but it's usually after a child dies and much harder to know where the line between fantasy and reality exists.

He's only making it worse for himself. The more normal stuff he denies, the more stuff other people recall that he denies, the bigger liar he looks like.

He need professional help to deal with this grief, IMHO.

 

[southcitymom]

Very sad. Clearly Danny is delusional and has turned Diane into a saint in his own mind.

She never honked her horn? They never argued? Please. I've seen this before, but it's usually after a child dies and much harder to know where the line between fantasy and reality exists.

He's only making it worse for himself. The more normal stuff he denies, the more stuff other people recall that he denies, the bigger liar he looks like.

He need professional help to deal with this grief, IMHO.

I too have seen that phenomenon happen when parents lose a child. It is all so sad and I really do hope he is seeing someone and getting some help. Truly, I can't even imagine what he must be going through.

 

[Opie]

The attorney's comments about his "performance" make him sound very slimy.

So sad all around. And no one is a saint. Maybe it helps Dan Schuler to say things like that and possibly even believe them. Just tragic for everyone.

 

[SleuthyMama]

I feel sad, dirty, angry and agitated after reading that article that zippitydoda linked. For me, the line in the story that read "admit one flaw and everything falls apart" pretty much sums the whole thing up for me.

Danny was happy to have a wife who did everything. He didn't want the responsibility of anything more than that. And now he has to live with all that has developed as a result of that for the rest of his life.

I fear that unless he gets some serious intense help, he's his own accident waiting to happen.

 

[zippitydoda]

It takes a sober person to order Chicken Selects at McDonald's during breakfast hours – or at least that's the latest explanation Daniel Schuler's investigator posits for why Diane wasn't drunk when she killed eight people in a tragic wrong-way crash on the Taconic.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...nalds-Before-Crash-Investigator-70608397.html

 

[southcitymom]

It takes a sober person to order Chicken Selects at McDonald's during breakfast hours – or at least that's the latest explanation Daniel Schuler's investigator posits for why Diane wasn't drunk when she killed eight people in a tragic wrong-way crash on the Taconic.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...nalds-Before-Crash-Investigator-70608397.html

Honestly, I understand the desire to look for other potentialities, but I am with you zippity - her ability to sweet-talk employees into making some chicken selects for her during non breakfast hours has nothing to do with whether she was drunk or not drunk at that time.

 

[PeteyGirl]

Wow. It would be sad in a pathetic way, I guess, the lengths DS is going through to absolve his wife, if it weren't for the disrespect implied for the lives she took

 

[arielilane]

I know a lot of alcoholics who function best when they are intoxicated. It’s when they are not; that they have issues.
However, the Bastardis’ attorney stated it best:

Brian Sichol, an attorney for the Bastardis, isn't buying the McDonald's defense, which he calls another in a long line of desperate yet futile attempts to prove Schuler's innocence – and doesn't believe the gas station surveillance video proves anything.
"Just because Diane Schuler is not passed out on the floor of McDonald's or the gas station does not prove that she wasn't drunk three hours later," Sichol told the News. "We don't need all these silly theories. We have science. Science tells us that Diane Schuler was drunk and high" at 1:35 p.m., the time of the crash.
…end of story.

 

[southcitymom]

Wow. It would be sad in a pathetic way, I guess, the lengths DS is going through to absolve his wife, if it weren't for the disrespect implied for the lives she took

It's sad either way. I personally don't see his denial as disrespectful to anyone. The facts are the facts - what he does or doesn't believe about his wife's drinking and using habits has no bearing on this case, IMHO. (unless he let her drive off with 5 kids when he knew she was impaired, but nothing points to that).

 

[Carla Lashelle]

These people created each other, in their own weird, dysfunctional family. Shes a dope smoking drunk and hes a slug in denial. They were made for each other. Sadly, so many people had to die because of his ignorance and her substance abuse problems.

As an addict and alcoholic, I have, I know, appeared to be pretty "normal" and unimpaired. I can recall one instance of heavy drinking where I was relatively motionless (was sitting) but was able to actually paint and do very good, precise, detailed work. For whatever reason, the alcohol didn't effect me. But I stood up, turned around, and by the time I reached for the light switch, I had passed out, tumbled over a coffee table, and struck my head on something. i woke up the next day... I had been drinking for several hours and felt and acted fine until that moment. So I don't buy the lawyer claims that she couldn't do certain things if she was all liquored up...

 

[teedie2]

This man will go to his grave thinking exactly what he wants to think. But I wonder what the sole remaining child is going to think when he gets older.. Will he take his dad's word for it, or will he wonder ...

 

[PeteyGirl]

It's sad either way. I personally don't see his denial as disrespectful to anyone. The facts are the facts - what he does or doesn't believe about his wife's drinking and using habits has no bearing on this case, IMHO. (unless he let her drive off with 5 kids when he knew she was impaired, but nothing points to that).

That is a very good point . . . :blowkiss:

 

[4Kat]

It's sad either way. I personally don't see his denial as disrespectful to anyone. The facts are the facts - what he does or doesn't believe about his wife's drinking and using habits has no bearing on this case, IMHO. (unless he let her drive off with 5 kids when he knew she was impaired, but nothing points to that).

ITA Southcitymom! I think it is possible that he had no idea. Consider his work hours and the fact that she was asleep when he came home. If she was a pot-smoking drinker, by the time he came home, she was passed out. The only time he really saw her was the weekends and if she indulged then, he would think nothing of it.

I say this from experience. My dad worked until after midnight for many years. To make a long story short, my mom (God rest her blessed soul) would drink at night and be in bed by the time he came home. He never knew and he still has no knowledge of it. I only became aware of it when I would visit. At first, I noticed that she seemed a little tipsy, as time went on, I became a snoop. I was concerned and started spending more time with her. She drank quite a lot. Surprisingly, when my dad retired, the drinking stopped. I believe she drank out of boredom and loneliness.

Of course, my mom's situation is totally different from Diane's, but my point is that her husband honestly may have not known the extent of her drinking/smoking.

According to an article posted earlier, Mike's family says that Diane's family has not even recognized their loss. This is disturbing to me. No matter the details, Diane is responsible for their deaths and the deaths of her own family members. Danny should at least recognize this.

This is so tragic for everyone involved.

 

[Velouria]

It takes a sober person to order Chicken Selects at McDonald's during breakfast hours – or at least that's the latest explanation Daniel Schuler's investigator posits for why Diane wasn't drunk when she killed eight people in a tragic wrong-way crash on the Taconic.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...nalds-Before-Crash-Investigator-70608397.html

Great. So instead of the Twinkie defense, we have the Chicken Selects defense. :banghead: Every time anyone from Team Schuler opens their mouth, the Bastardi family gets one step closer to a win in their civil case.

 

[tapu]

To follow up on discussion, above, I can add that when I was an active alcoholic, I can so very easily see myself going into a McDonald's and if they weren't serving what my kids wanted, I would have charmed and smarmed my way to some "off-schedule" McNuggets, and afterwards felt like I was just that clever and smart that I could always get what I wanted.

I really think that's a classic act of the kind of alcoholic who hides it well. And people think you're just great and cute and funny and bold and everything else my friends and family thought of me at that stage in my drinking.

And two hours later, more often than not, I could be reeling and falling and basically incapable of controlling my own body, let alone 2000 lbs of reinforced steel.

(Note: I also might just as easily have been fully in control of the 2000 lbs of steel, by whatever mechanism, but not able to see that going the wrong way was something maybe wrong on MY end. The latter feeling is like the one in McDonald's--you can handle this, easy-peazey.)