8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway

[southcitymom]

I didn't know or think about this possibility, so thanks for pointing that out. I will have to go back and look at which statements were made by whom.

However, Daniel has made statements that were inconsistent - she didn't drink, she drank socially, we carried a big bottle of vodka in the car with us, etc. That makes my alarm bells go off. Right now I am chalking it up to concern for his job and initial shock, but I hope someone can rein Barbara in. He is not helping.

Shuler spoke last week but I haven't heard anything directly from him since.

Barbara probably won't stop speaking for while! I agree that his theories seem to be stretching the bounds of imagination, and I'm fairly certain that this is strategic on his part.

Now, is Shuler still in such denial that he is hanging on to any crazy suggestion that Barbara puts out there? - that is surely a possibility.

 

[Kat]

I haven't had much time to follow updates for this thread. I'm sorry if this was already covered.

Have the funerals/memorials been announced for the victims yet?

Prayers for the victims families.

 

[MCDRAW]

Shuler spoke last week but I haven't heard anything directly from him since.

Barbara probably won't stop speaking for while! I agree that his theories seem to be stretching the bounds of imagination, and I'm fairly certain that this is strategic on his part.

Now, is Shuler still in such denial that he is hanging on to any crazy suggestion that Barbara puts out there? - that is surely a possibility.

I think he is in denial and grieving. I believe when his mind can accept it, he will.

 

[southcitymom]

I haven't had much time to follow updates for this thread. I'm sorry if this was already covered.

Have the funerals/memorials been announced for the victims yet?

Prayers for the victims families.

Kat,

I know the children and DS have been buried and am assuming the others have been too. I do not have the link but recall the article and pictures.

 

[Kat]

Thank you SCM.

I'm sorry that I missed that. My heart is with the victims. I pray that eventually peace will come to their hearts.

_____

A comment about denial. It is a very real thing, as most here know. Even when presented with undisputed facts the person in denial will still deny and deny that reality.

However, if and when the person in denial comes to accept the full reality of the situation, it can be a devastating blow and quite often it is a breaking point for the person in denial.

I hope that wasn't too 'round about and nonspecific to be understood.

Denial can be a self-preservation technique our mind uses. However, it's just plain ugly and frustrating in this case (it usually is in a lot of cases). I'm going to be very honest and share : I want to do the ol' Cher move and slap the face of the one in denial and say "Snap out of it".

At any rate, sorry for the ramble. Such a profound loss for everyone concerned. I have looked at this six ways to Sunday and I can't see where this tragedy could have been prevented.

 

[lizzybeth]

Kat,
I completely understand what you are saying about denial. Some things are too horrible, or devastating for the mind. It doesn't make you a bad person. It is as you said a way of self-preservation when faced with something that could completely break you.

 

[1SweetNov]

I am catching up on this tragic case, but it reminded me of one an attorney defended a long time ago. A second autopsy showed the alcohol from the broken bottle entered the decedent's body at the time of the accident through severe, traumatic abdominal injury. The expert proved it was not ingested.

 

[southcitymom]

I am catching up on this tragic case, but it reminded me of one an attorney defended a long time ago. A second autopsy showed the alcohol from the broken bottle entered the decedent's body at the time of the accident through severe, traumatic abdominal injury. The expert proved it was not ingested.

That would not explain the marijuana (though frankly, I don't understand how they can say she had smoked 15-60 minutes before the accident - don't know how a test can determine that so specifically - seems like THC could be in her system if she had a joint over the weekend), and I do not know whether or not DS suffered abdominal injuries. But it's a very interesting thought.

I am one of those who would love to see a second autopsy/BAC done, but I can't hold my breath for that to happen. One would think that given the severity of this collision along with such high public interest, the lab that did it would have been extra careful. Still, we know mistakes can and do happen in labs.

 

[southcitymom]

Kat and Lizzybeth,

I appreciate what y'all had to say about denial. Sometimes I get frustrated when it is thrown about in a shaming and dismissive way - "Oh, they're just in denial." It's a very real construct of the psyche, and the purpose it serves is laudable. All of us engage in it to some extent.

It is very challenging to rework your experience of a person when information comes to light that doesn't "fit in" with your experience.

 

[arielilane]

State police gave these details of what happened on July 26:

1. 9:30 a.m.: Diane Schuler leaves the Hunter Lake Campground in Parksville with her two children and three nieces in her Ford Windstar minivan. Her husband, Daniel, leaves separately with the family dog.

2. Next: Diane Schuler stops at a McDonald’s in Liberty for breakfast with the children.

3. Later that morning: Witnesses tell state police that a red Ford minivan was seen driving erratically on Route 17 and the Thruway. One witness says he observed the minivan driving up over the grass at the Ramapo rest stop on the Thruway.

4. 1:02 p.m.: Diane Schuler calls her brother, Warren Hance, after pulling over on the Thruway in Tarrytown past the Tappan Zee Bridge. She says she isn’t feeling well and is disoriented. Warren Hance tells her to stay put and begins driving up from Long Island. A driver later finds Diane Schuler’s cell phone discarded at a pull-off area on the Thruway.

5. 1:35 p.m.: Diane Schuler drives the minivan up an exit ramp onto the Taconic State Parkway, going south in the northbound lanes. She drives for 1.7 miles before hitting an SUV head-on. Diane Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter, Erin, and three nieces are killed, along with three men from Yonkers who were in the SUV. The only survivor in the minivan is Diane Schuler’s 5-year-old son, Bryan.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWS76

 

[arielilane]

She looks way too much like Patsy Ramsey...

 

[DeeMarie]

Just thought I would share:

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=15024501&ch=4226713&src=news

 

[DeeMarie]

State police gave these details of what happened on July 26:

4. 1:02 p.m.: Diane Schuler calls her brother, Warren Hance, after pulling over on the Thruway in Tarrytown past the Tappan Zee Bridge. She says she isn’t feeling well and is disoriented. Warren Hance tells her to stay put and begins driving up from Long Island. A driver later finds Diane Schuler’s cell phone discarded at a pull-off area on the Thruway.

5. 1:35 p.m.: Diane Schuler drives the minivan up an exit ramp onto the Taconic State Parkway, going south in the northbound lanes. She drives for 1.7 miles before hitting an SUV head-on. Diane Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter, Erin, and three nieces are killed, along with three men from Yonkers who were in the SUV. The only survivor in the minivan is Diane Schuler’s 5-year-old son, Bryan.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=NEWS76

Thank-you for this post.

4. I wonder did it look like the phone was thrown or just 'left'. (the difference between forgetting it and being mad/suicidal and throwing the phone after the conversation with her brother-you would think she would keep it with her if she was not feeling good)

5. All that traffic going by her as she drove the wrong way. She went a LONG ways the wrong way. She was not stopping or going or doing big swerves through the traffic. How fast was she going?

The more I read between the phone call and the drinking and being in a somewhat steady control going the wrong way for a long ways I think she decided to end it and do a suicide by car per say.
She was drunk and mad about something and did not care there were children in the car. That's why the phone call details to her brother are not being revealed.
Also was she mad at her brother after the call and then didn't care about his 3 daughters being in back?

We are seeing a lengthy 4 1/2 hours of her driving. A medical condition along with the pot and vodka would show signs of a lot more bad driving and crashing/stopping a lot sooner. She also was talking on the phone and knew to drive through Mc Donalds.
Also I wounder about her driving record. Was she a speeder or a road rage woman?
The medical condition being talked about by her family I think is just a rouse to avoid or help with the lawsuits coming down the road.

 

[arielilane]

Daniel Longo in a family picture.

The casket of Daniel Longo being borne into church. (Seth Harrison/The Journal News)

 

[arielilane]

Three sisters Emma, Kate, and Alyson were killed by a drunk driver…their aunt. Also, killed (not pictured) was the drunk driver’s daughter and the drunk driver’s son was critically injured.

 

[arielilane]

Guy Bastardi



Michael Bastardi

 

[chicagofa13]

Discussion on JVM, they are ripping on Barbara and the husband. The new Anbesol defense is a big crock of you know what. One of the TH's drank Anbesol before the show to make a point.

 

[Kat]

arielilane thank you so much for posting the pictures of the victims. May God bless their families.

 

[chicagofa13]

Today, I believe it was on JVM it was said that the parents of the three little girls have seperated themselves from Diane's husband. The reason wasn't given and it wasn't said that they have formed a relationship with the Bastardi's and Longos. I do know that they sent a card to the other familys though. They probably wish Diane's husband would just shut up because it was said that him and his attorneys are just making it more difficult for the families that lost loved ones in the wreck which would include Diane's brother and his wife.

Pretty sure that can't be confirmed. That was discussed on JVM yesterday and the conclusion was never made that they had "split" with Daniel.

However, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

Again, y'all - let's bear in mind that Barbara may well be the attorney assigned to Daniel Shuler by his insurance company. Has Shuler himself made any statements concerning things since those at the pressers last week? If the insurance companies are paying Barbara's bills to mitigate the potential damages of civil suits, there's not a whole heck of a lot Shuler can do about Barbara's strategies.

I'm not saying this IS the case - only that it very well could be. Until I know a lot more about the nature of their relationship, I am not comfortable assuming that Barbara and Shuler are on the same page here.

I don't believe for one second that his/her insurance company hired Barbara. They have loads of very competent attorneys to work these cases (been through 4 car accidents myself). JMHO of course.

 

[Marina2]

That would not explain the marijuana (though frankly, I don't understand how they can say she had smoked 15-60 minutes before the accident - don't know how a test can determine that so specifically - seems like THC could be in her system if she had a joint over the weekend), and I do not know whether or not DS suffered abdominal injuries. But it's a very interesting thought.

I am one of those who would love to see a second autopsy/BAC done, but I can't hold my breath for that to happen. One would think that given the severity of this collision along with such high public interest, the lab that did it would have been extra careful. Still, we know mistakes can and do happen in labs.

Urinalysis for detecting marijuana use shows the presence of byproducts of THC. This can be detected for days to weeks after last use.

Blood tests for marijuana use show the presence of active THC rather than THC byproducts. In the first hour after using marijuana, the level of THC in one's bloodstream is very high. After one hour, the level drops dramatically and can remain for hours to a couple of days. A very high level of active THC in the blood is indicative of use within the hour and impairment in driving since this level drops to a very small amount after one hour.

I think it was a level of THC high enough to determine use within the hour that allowed them to make the determination that she was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident. It's not the presence of THC in the blood, but the level of THC that determines recent (within the hour) use and impairment.