8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway

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VCD-very valid point. The results of the tox tests are due tomorrow. Definitely something to be looked at.
 
Lexington said:
Did the drivers who saw her say anything about the speed that she was driving at, could they ascertain anything from the look on her face, where were the children seated in the car, who was sitting in the passenger seat, were the children sleeping, did they look frightened, were they talking - what was the general manner of the children. I guess passing on a highway like that they could not see that well into the car, but I would think that they could gauge if she was driving at an inordinate rate of speed and perhaps get a glimpse of the expression on her face, all eyes must have been on her. Most importantly, did she swerve to avoid the SUV?
Click to expand...

Witnesses that saw her driving:
"New witnesses interviewed over the past several days say a woman driving a red minivan filled with kids on eastbound Route 17 and southbound Interstate 87 was "straddling two lanes, tailgating, flashing its headlights and beeping the horn."
"Nevertheless, police said witnesses who saw the minivan on Route 17 and I-87 described it as driving in and out of lanes.

One man said the driver tried to pass his vehicle on the shoulder of the road; another said the minivan entered the Ramapo service area and then drove across the grass."


"In contrast to witnesses who saw Schuler's erratic driving earlier that day, those who swerved to avoid her as she drove down the Taconic exit ramp and along a 1.7-mile stretch of the parkway before the collision said Schuler ignored warnings that she was going the wrong way, but did appear to be in control of the minivan.


They were consistent in saying that she remained in the left lane without swerving or crossing the lines, and that she appeared to be driving as if everything was normal, before hitting a Chevrolet TrailBlazer occupied by three Yonkers men."
http://www.lohud.com/article/2009908040357

So first on route 17 and also the NY state thruway there are witnesses seeing her drive like a crazy lady. (NYS Thruway goes straight over the Tappan Zee bridge) which is the area she pulled off around to call her brother-in-law.
Then once she's on the Taconic the wrong way witnesses who saw her said her driving was fine, she stayed in the lines, without giving any recognition that people were trying to warn her by honking, flashing lights.

So the first witnesses that seen her driving on 17 & 87 (NYS thruway) it seems like she was a pizzed off woman driving like a mad lady. After she calls her brother-in-law at the pull over spot right past the tolls on the Tappan Zee bridge (i wish we were privy to that conversation) sounds like she calmed down enough to drive head on calmly staying in the lanes to crash head on with the men from Yonkers.

They did get a surveilance video from a McDonald's she ate at with the children, and it said in the article that nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the video.
 
MeoW333 said:
New reports of erratic driving in tragedy

http://www.lohud.com/article/2009908040357
Click to expand...

BREAKING NEWS — Diane Schuler was drunk and had high levels of marijuana in her body when she drove head-on into traffic on the Taconic State Parkway, killing eight people and injuring two others, sources close to the investigation said today.


The findings were part of an autopsy toxicology report being conducted on Schuler in the wake of the deadly July 26 crash.


Westchester's chief medical examiner, Dr. Millard Hyland, said this morning that his office ruled the case a homicide last week. He would not confirm the toxicology results or whether those were the basis of the homicide determination. Hyland referred questions to the Westchester District Attorney's Office, which would not comment today.


Wow,

She was drunk and had high levels of marijuana in her system. I'm shocked! Thank you for the news link. There is an update on the top of the article of the breaking news.

I can't believe she took that chance with the lives of all the children. So sad!
 
WHAT????? Holy Sh@t. No way. I haven't even read the link yet, just your post bogeygal.

Be right back.
 
I'm floored. Absolutely floored. I don't know where to begin. First of all, it was friggin' 9:30 in the morning when they left the campground! Was she drinking and getting high that early in the morning? Did she get wasted at McDonald's when they stopped for breakfast? I'm not trying to be a wise a$$ I'm really just even more confused now then I was before.

Part of me is "happy" to have an explanation but this just leaves me with more questions! What kind of person not only puts their OWN TWO CHILDREN in harm's way but your brother's THREE AND ONLY KIDS in your car and drives under the influence of alcohol and weed? I'm so disgusted I truly could throw up right now.

There isn't a single answer out there that was going to make me ever feel okay about this case but this one just really makes me outraged. Absolutely outraged. Not only for those kids, but for Warren and Jackie Hance and for Mr. Shuler and for the other victims and their families.

Sorry for the long ramble here but I am truly truly gobsmacked.
 
SleuthyMama said:
I'm floored. Absolutely floored. I don't know where to begin. First of all, it was friggin' 9:30 in the morning when they left the campground! Was she drinking and getting high that early in the morning? Did she get wasted at McDonald's when they stopped for breakfast? I'm not trying to be a wise a$$ I'm really just even more confused now then I was before.

Part of me is "happy" to have an explanation but this just leaves me with more questions! What kind of person not only puts their OWN TWO CHILDREN in harm's way but your brother's THREE AND ONLY KIDS in your car and drives under the influence of alcohol and weed? I'm so disgusted I truly could throw up right now.

There isn't a single answer out there that was going to make me ever feel okay about this case but this one just really makes me outraged. Absolutely outraged. Not only for those kids, but for Warren and Jackie Hance and for Mr. Shuler and for the other victims and their families.

Sorry for the long ramble here but I am truly truly gobsmacked.
Click to expand...

I would love a few more details in terms of the tox screen -I know that the level of alcohol in your blood stream can be determined at the time the blood is taken - I don't know if levels of marijuana can be determined as specifically (ie - could she have smoked the night before or during the weekend and had levels still in her system?)

It wouldn't be difficult to hide drinking alcohol from the kids, but smoking pot is less discreet. Regardless, she was obviously impaired. I wonder if she had an addiction problem and if her family knew.

SM, I want to tell you a little bit about the type of person who abuses mind and mood-altering substances and drives children because I have some real experience with that.

As some of y'all here know, I am a recovering addict/alcoholic. I got clean prior to having children, but after 7+ years clean, I had a year-long relapse after the birth of my second son.

During the first year of his life (unknown to my spouse and others around me), I used drugs daily, compulsively and obsessively, and I drove (and cared for) my children regularly during that time. This is not my proudest moment as a parent and fortunately, I was able to get clean again, but if this woman was an addict/alcoholic, I understand her.

I never felt like I was putting my kids in danger (though of course I was). I felt like I was a much better mother to them high (though that's not true). It is a hard thing to explain to people who don't have personal experience with addiction.

Even while I was using and making decisions that were terrible and unsafe for my kids, I loved them very much. For addicts, eventually the substance takes over every crevice of our life and we can only function when we have it. It's like being in prison and it's no way to live.

I do not know what her family might or might not have known about her substance abuse issues. If she's anything like me, she was crafty enough to keep them hidden for a while.

In my opinion, addiction is possibly the worst human scourge. It plays a key role in a vast amount of the terrible cases we read about here. All of my love and prayers to her family.
 
bogeygal said:
http://wcbstv.com/local/taconic.state.parkway.2.1114132.html

CBS News:

Source: Alcohol, Marijuana In Taconic Mom's System
Toxicology Report To Show Diane Schuler Had BAC Of .19, Traces Of Marijuana
Click to expand...

Sounds like she was drunk but the marijuana was probably from the weekend before.

ETA - I also see now that this woman was a professional executive. I'll bet she took great care to hide any problem she may have had with alcohol abuse.
 
SleuthyMama said:
I'm floored. Absolutely floored. I don't know where to begin. First of all, it was friggin' 9:30 in the morning when they left the campground! Was she drinking and getting high that early in the morning? Did she get wasted at McDonald's when they stopped for breakfast? I'm not trying to be a wise a$$ I'm really just even more confused now then I was before.

Part of me is "happy" to have an explanation but this just leaves me with more questions! What kind of person not only puts their OWN TWO CHILDREN in harm's way but your brother's THREE AND ONLY KIDS in your car and drives under the influence of alcohol and weed? I'm so disgusted I truly could throw up right now.

There isn't a single answer out there that was going to make me ever feel okay about this case but this one just really makes me outraged. Absolutely outraged. Not only for those kids, but for Warren and Jackie Hance and for Mr. Shuler and for the other victims and their families.

Sorry for the long ramble here but I am truly truly gobsmacked.
Click to expand...

I'm just as shocked and upset SM,

I remember reading initial reports that drugs/alcohol was unlikely. Most likely at that time, they didn't have all the definitive results of the blood levels.

Many who posted on this thread (including myself) were looking into other factors such as "panic attack", "high blood sugar surge", and other reasons as to why this tragic crash occurred.

Maybe some of us just could not fathom the thought of a mother and aunt getting into a car for a long drive drunk and possibly high with her own children and her three beautiful nieces. I was one of those that never thought it was planned. (Meaning she wasn't trying to commit suicide). She was disorientated because she was under the influence.

Now that I know the initial results of the blood work in her system, and that is the why 8 innocent people were killed in a horrific crash, it changes everything to me.

I feel sick to my stomach now.
 
SCM, although I've never been addicted to drugs or alcohol I think I do understand your explanation. I know that the person who does something like this doesn't intentionally sit there and go "Gee, I think I'll get really wasted, put my kids in the car and see what happens." It's a sickness. It's an addiction. You did something to get clean and for that I applaud you. You learned from your issues and you moved on. That's all anyone can hope for.

I don't think this was her first time in this situation either. I am sure she knew how to hide a lot from family, friends and coworkers. But like I just said to bogeygal earlier, I wanted answers to why this happened but I so badly wanted the answer to have been beyond Diane's control. Undiagnosed diabetes, a stroke, a migraine, something that she wasn't responsible for.

And although I know addiction is a sickness and some would argue one that so tightly imprisons people that her actions were beyond her control, I have to tell you I have a problem with it. As much as I do understand where you are coming from and what you've battled. I just can't get past her choice and the horrible consequences of her actions.
 
southcitymom said:
I would love a few more details in terms of the tox screen -I know that the level of alcohol in your blood stream can be determined at the time the blood is taken - I don't know if levels of marijuana can be determined as specifically (ie - could she have smoked the night before or during the weekend and had levels still in her system?)
Click to expand...

In regards to marijuana levels, I don't know much about blood tests, but I know with urine tests it can depend on how heavy of a user a person is. If a person is a chronic user, the levels will be high and stay high, even if they don't use for a few days. If the person is an occasional smoker and only has a little, it can still stay in the urine for 3 days. Essentially, really high levels mean chronic user and/or just used. Lower levels mean that they are a chronic user who hasn't used in a while, or they are an occasional user.
 
Forgive me cause I'm still trying to comprehend all this....do we know yet if the levels of THC are high, like you are talking about Lyn101? Guess I'm asking do we know enuf yet to theorize if she was a chronic user or not?
 
Oh my god! I just was reading that too,
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090804/NEWS/908049972

It said her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
She had to have been suicidal/homicidal to drive drunk like that with all those kids in the car. Most people just don't do that.
I hope a lot of lawsuits come out of this, it's disgusting. Not only did she kill her daughter, 3 of her neices, she killed 3 men from Yonkers who were on their way to a family party.
Everyone knows that if your that drunk you don't drive. Especially with 5 children in the car.
She had to be suicidal, maybe she got in a fight with her husband and decided that she was getting her own "revenge".
It explains her angry erradic driving on RT17 and NYS87 Thruway. Then when she decides to commit her final act her driving stayed in the lanes on the Taconic.
 
I am also quite shocked. This is not what I was expecting. I don't understand.
 
SleuthyMama said:
Forgive me cause I'm still trying to comprehend all this....do we know yet if the levels of THC are high, like you are talking about Lyn101? Guess I'm asking do we know enuf yet to theorize if she was a chronic user or not?
Click to expand...

No, we don't have any idea yet. I was just responding to SCM wondering if they would be able to tell when the mom last used based on the results. Sorry for any confusion!!!
 
MeoW333 said:
Oh my god! I just was reading that too,
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090804/NEWS/908049972

It said her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.
She had to have been suicidal/homicidal to drive drunk like that with all those kids in the car. Most people just don't do that.
I hope a lot of lawsuits come out of this, it's disgusting. Not only did she kill her daughter, 3 of her neices, she killed 3 men from Yonkers who were on their way to a family party.
Everyone knows that if your that drunk you don't drive. Especially with 5 children in the car.
She had to be suicidal, maybe she got in a fight with her husband and decided that she was getting her own "revenge".
It explains her angry erradic driving on RT17 and NYS87 Thruway. Then when she decides to commit her final act her driving stayed in the lanes on the Taconic.
Click to expand...

I have to respectfully disagree about her having to be suicidal/homicidal. Alcoholics (if she was one) can often be well over the limit, including at a level most people would be unconscious at, and be acting normal. They also don't feel like they have any impairments. They feel they are perfectly fine, and if they've driven like that before with no issues, it just reinforces the idea that they have no problem driving after drinking. At this point I don't think there is enough to say this was on purpose just because she was over the limit and had THC in her system.

That said, I do enjoy reading your posts and often agree with you!
 
I do respect your opinion Lyn but the Westchester DA is definitely calling it homicide at this point. And if she had survived you can bet she'd be prosecuted for these deaths.
 
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