8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway

[galvino]

I lived in Ga, even though you can't buy booze on Sundays in a store (only drinks in a restaurant after noon) there is still a drive through Liquor store at the lake!

In NC where I live, the State run ABC ONLY sells liquor Mon-Sat (no mixers, beer or wine). You have to go to the ABC for your evil, then a convenience store or grocery store for your mixers wine and beer (which you CAN buy on Sunday).

My SIL lives in Phoenix, where it is one stop shopping at the grocery store!

 

[Shecky]

I think that's a fascinating question about state laws and dui statistics. I'll search around, but if anyone else finds something, please link.

As for beer strength, OH sells 6.0, except on Sundays, when only 3.2 can be bought. Crazy leftover from the Blue Laws, I guess.... That is probably what the 'no alc in the morning' in NY is due to, too.

In CA, when I was tending bar, you couldn't serve liquor in it from 2am to 6am. And by the way, not just a few people will show up at 6am....

Yeah, that's still the law. About three or four years ago, I was doing some very late shopping at an all night supermarket. It was just after 2am when I got to the checkout, and among my other items I had a 6 pack of beer. The cashier was not allowed to sell it to me.

 

[Steve2010]

Here in New York, you can only buy Vodka from a liquor store.

Recently, they changed the laws to allow them to open on a Sunday, but they could only be open 6 days a week. They left it up to the individual liquor store owner's to decide which day that they would remain closed.

 

[tapu]

Here in New York, you can only buy Vodka from a liquour store.

Recently, they changed the laws to allow them to open on a Sunday, but they could only be open 6 days a week. They left it up to the individual liquour store owner's to decide which day that they would remain closed.

Geez, that's weird. Wonder what the reasoning was behind that??

 

[daisy7]

Having also worked in a pharmacy (bar, pharmacy, are we seeing a pattern here? ), I am pretty sure Tylenol is not one of those. Some decongestants for the meth connection are behind the counter; I think 17+under can't by Robitussin, or anything with Dextromethorphan. Maybe a few others. Not any of the otc analgesics, though. The only one that might have something of interest there would be Percogesic if it's still sold that way. But even then....

Tylenol is not one of these (I just bought some last week). I'm gonna try and find the list that requires an ID.

Just as an FYI, kids under 18 are also not allowed to buy paint, super glue and a bunch of other things in FL, cuz of sniffing. I don't know how it is in other states.

 

[RJA00]

Yeah, that's still the law. About three or four years ago, I was doing some very late shopping at an all night supermarket. It was just after 2am when I got to the checkout, and among my other items I had a 6 pack of beer. The cashier was not allowed to sell it to me.

here in my little town in TN the law used to be you could not sell beer from 12:00am sun to 12:01 am mon
I used to hate to work the 2nd shift when i managed a gas station on saturdays night, the last min run to get beer.


but just recently they changed the law and you can sell beer on sun here now

 

[Steve2010]

Geez, that's weird. Wonder what the reasoning was behind that??

My Bad - Looks like they may have revised the law to eliminate that confusing rule.

I just checked some store hours, and they show open 7 days a week.

 

[RJA00]

Tylenol is not one of these (I just bought some last week). I'm gonna try and find the list that requires an ID.

Just as an FYI, kids under 18 are also not allowed to buy paint, super glue and a bunch of other things in FL, cuz of sniffing. I don't know how it is in other states.

sudefed (sp)

I had no ideal they changed the law for id, i felt like a two bit criminal a year or so ago when i bought a pack.

they id you make you sign a paper they look at you strange. I havent bought none since.

 

[chicagofa13]

Is she the one who said, "I don't care if she had bubonic plague, she was drunk"? That pretty much sums it up, in my opinion. Maybe I'll start watching her.

I put that quote up so I can answer! It was one of JVM's guests, Wendy Murphy. A well-known TH attorney.

OOPS. I see that was answered already.

 

[tapu]

I put that quote up so I can answer! It was one of JVM's guests, Wendy Murphy. A well-known TH attorney.

OOPS. I see that was answered already.

Thanks for posting the quote in the first place.

Talk about "to the point"!

 

[chicagofa13]

Ahhh, she asked the clerk for some and the convenience store didn't have any....

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Wrong-Way-Crash-Mom-Was-a-Pothead-Family--53220122.html

(snip)
The family even hired a private investigator to try to prove there was a medical reason behind the crash. Thomas Ruskin, the private eye, says he's got video surveillance to confirm Schuler stopped at an upstate convenience store – and a statement from a store clerk that says she asked for over-the-counter pain medicine, according to the Daily News.
Ruskin says video footage, which hasn't been released, showed Schuler inside and outside the store in Liberty, N.Y. and speaking with the clerk behind the counter. He says the clerk described her as sober less than four hours before the wreck.

"He said she asked him for Tylenol or Advil and he didn't have any - so the question becomes what was bothering Diane Schuler?" Ruskin told the News.

My bold.

WHO CARES IF SHE WAS SOBER 4 HOURS EARLIER? I am interested in why she was DRUNK when she CRASHED. Sheesh. Enough about Mc D's and the convenience store sobriety. She was WASTED.

Ha ha! When visiting Ohio recently, I saw that you could go to a "Drive-Thru Carry-Out." Seriously, drive into a garage-like structure, get your 12-pack, and never have to leave your car. Cold beer, that is, too. (For info only: Ohio sells hard liquor only out of state stores.)

Oh dear, in NJ my roommate would call up and order beer and cigs to be delivered for her binges.

 

[tapu]

WHO CARES IF SHE WAS SOBER 4 HOURS EARLIER? I am interested in why she was DRUNK when she CRASHED. Sheesh. Enough about Mc D's and the convenience store sobriety. She was WASTED.

Really. Like you could defend yourself on a dui by saying, "But Judge, I was sober earlier that morning."

 

[Native New Yorker]

As Shecky said "This whole story is just so awful. My husband and I just got back from a road trip out to Utah (we're in California) and I couldn't help but feel extra cautious while I was driving -- looking out for potential drunk drivers and other hazards."

I am going on a road trip next week, and am not looking forward to it....am usually nervous with all the construction on Chicago interstates, now will look for drunk drivers, too.....

 

[Bobbisangel]

Her family knew she was a pothead.
Deadly wrong-way driver Diane Schuler relied on marijuana to fall asleep, her family told People magazine in an exclusive interview.
Brother-in-law Jimmy Schuler insists the Long Island mom of two was practically a teetotaler, though he says the family was aware she used pot when she couldn't sleep.

More at link
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08142009/news/regionalnews/crash_ma_was_a_toker_184512.htm

I wonder if the pot in her system was from the night before then. Still can't explain away the alcohol though.

I think there are quite a few people that smoke a joint before they go to bed as it does help them sleep. I've had people who have tried to get me to do that as I am up and down all night long and have been for years. I refuse because I can't stand the smell of pot and I did try it a few times in my way younger years and didn't like the affect. It sure would be nice to be able to go to bed and sleep a full 8 hours each night though :crazy: I can sure see why some people use it for a sleep remedy.

 

[drip~drop]

Exactly - buying Advil on a road trip with kids is almost a given in my experience (in fact, I don't leave home without it! )....it doesn't make me go "Ah-ha...that's odd...something must have been really wrong with her physically!"

Maybe she was sick but still, what she did was soooo wrong. (not saying you do or don't think that. )

I'm not a drinker but maybe a couple/few times a year and wow, if i had that much booze in me, I'd be puking my guts out or be plain passed out. Even with weed.
I can't buy that she was trying to self medicate. and omg, while driving kids around? :thud:
Anyways, if she was sick, ALL she had to do was pull over and ask for help.
that's all she needed to do.
She had enough sense to call her brother but not enough sense to stay put?

sorry i'm all over the place but this "accident" has really ticked me off.

 

[drip~drop]

I don't know, in my experience even light or social drinkers tend to have an idea of what their limit is. Failing that, I don't think someone that rarely drank could even make it to ten shots of vodka without passing out/throwing up.

That's what I'm sayin'!

Unless she slammed it all down at once, which seems to be more along the lines of something a naive teenager would do when given the chance to drink heavily for the first time. Not so much what an adult in her mid-thirties would do, especially if we presume she had at least some experience with alcohol.

that was a LOT of booze to be slamming back!

This whole story is just so awful. My husband and I just got back from a road trip out to Utah (we're in California) and I couldn't help but feel extra cautious while I was driving -- looking out for potential drunk drivers and other hazards.

I'm always on the lookout for drunk drivers, they scare the heck out of me, especially if they are behind.

 

[Bobbisangel]

Oh wow, how gut wrenching. My heart goes out to the first responders and to all the motorists who stopped to help before emergency workers could get on scene.

You were talking about the car being on fire and everyone being thrown out of it.

It's interesting because everyone that was first on the scene tells a different story. I read a story by a fireman who was just driving by and went back because no one was at the scene yet. He said that him and another man pulled Diane out of the van but she was dead...the kids were on the ground and he worked on one of the girls and she looked at him but wasn't really seeing him but did have a weak pulse. Two of the girls were laying across each other and they were dead. He said that the boy was crying and it looked like his leg was broken and his chest was crushed. He didn't mention anyone being on fire but did say the car was and that is why him and another guy got Diane out of it. He said she was half in and half out. No big thing but everyone has a different story and nothing is the same in any of them. Just interesting.

 

[delaney]

This is just a horrible crime. I am sick that this woman drove drunk with
kids in the car. Some of the statements coming out about what she did that
morning are odd.

"she tried to buy advil" is the one that has me thinking, that maybe this woman was a "recovering closet alcoholic", meaning she had a drinking
problem, got sober on her own, with no one the wiser, stayed sober, then used ambesol
for her tooth ache that morning, which triggered an immediate relapse. which is a stretch, but possible. she would then not be able to control her drinking.

i am NOT making excuses for this woman, i hope she rots, in that really hot
place.:furious:

as a recovering person myself, this is the only thing i can think of that
would cause someone who was known not to drink, to go off on such a
uncontrolable bender. if the relapse started with the alcohol in liquid ambesol.

anyway, but for the grace of god, go i. it has been many years since my last drink, but i am very careful never to ingest any products containing even the smallest amount of alcohol. i would
not want those drinking years back for anything and something like cough surup or ambesol would cause a relapse for me.

 

[chicagofa13]

I wonder if the pot in her system was from the night before then. Still can't explain away the alcohol though.

I think there are quite a few people that smoke a joint before they go to bed as it does help them sleep. I've had people who have tried to get me to do that as I am up and down all night long and have been for years. I refuse because I can't stand the smell of pot and I did try it a few times in my way younger years and didn't like the affect. It sure would be nice to be able to go to bed and sleep a full 8 hours each night though :crazy: I can sure see why some people use it for a sleep remedy.

Check out post #823 for an explanation of the blood test for pot. Sounds like she was using that AM.

 

[SuziQ]

The husband of the driver who caused a crash that killed herself and seven others on the Taconic State Parkway last month met with State Police on Friday to answer additional questions, according to authorities and a private investigator hired by the Schuler family.
"They were asking the timeline of his arrival and his departure - same as Diane. No new areas were covered," said private investigator Thomas Ruskin, who accompanied Daniel Schuler to the hourlong meeting.

More at link
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/schuler-s-husband-meets-again-with-state-police-1.1371064