taconic crash drunk

New York prosecutor says the Long Island mother who drove the wrong way in a crash that killed eight people was drunk and using marijuana.Westchester Country District Attorney Janet DiFiore says a medical examiner's report found that Diane Schuler's blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit. She says the autopsy also found that Schuler was impaired by marijuana.Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter and three young nieces died in the July 26 crash on the Taconic Parkway in Westchester County. Three men in the SUV she hit also died.The woman who drove her minivan for nearly two miles the wrong way on a suburban parkway before crashing in a fiery wreck that killed eight people had a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit and traces of marijuana in her system, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The unreleased toxicology report apparently reveals that 36-year-old Diane Schuler had a blood alcohol content of .19. The legal limit is .08. Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore also said that THC, the main substance found in marijuana, was also discovered in Schuler’s system.The toxicology report prepared by the Westchester County Medical Examiner reveals that the driver of the vehicle traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of the Taconic Parkway had a BAC of .19 – more than twice the legal limit. In addition, the report indicates that the driver was operating the vehicle while impaired by marijuana,” DiFiore said in a statement.My office, along with the New York State Police, will continue to investigate the facts and circumstances that led up to the collision causing the deaths, so that the public and the families of the victims can understand what lead to this horrific crash,she added.The complete toxicology report is expected to be released on Wednesday.

The news could explain why witnesses reported seeing Schuler driving aggressively and erratically long before the fatal crash, which state police reported on Monday.Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter and three young nieces died in the July 26 crash on the Taconic Parkway in Westchester County after she slammed head-on into an SUV, about 35 miles northwest of New York City.Three men in the SUV also died. The lone survivors were Schuler’s 5-year-old son and the occupants of a third vehicle that was hit by the SUV. They sustained minor injuries.Schuler and her family had been returning home to Long Island from a weekend camping trip in upstate Sullivan County — a journey she had made numerous times in the past.Her husband, Daniel Schuler, told investigators that he left for a fishing trip and his wife headed for home at about 9:30 that Sunday. He told police everything seemed fine when they left the campground.Schuler, an executive with Cablevision, inexplicably wound up going south in the northbound lanes as motorists sought in vain to get her attention; six drivers called 911 before the collision. Police have not said how fast the vehicles were going at the time of the crash.

State police, who have been retracing her route, said Monday that witnesses reported seeing her red Ford mini-van on both state Routes 17 and 87. They said the van was straddling two lanes, tailgating, flashing its headlights and beeping the horn.GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — A mother drank vodka and smoked marijuana while taking a vanload of children home from a weekend camping trip that ended in disaster when she went the wrong way on a highway and crashed into an SUV, killing eight people, police said Tuesday.Diane Schuler, who died along with her 2-year-old daughter and three nieces in her red minivan, had more than 10 drinks of alcohol in her system and a high level of the main ingredient in marijuana, authorities said. A broken 1.75-liter bottle of Absolut vodka was found in her wrecked minivan, police said.

The revelations from the 36-year-old Long Island woman’s autopsy helped explain how the woman her family called “an accomplished working mother who always put her children before any other priorities” wound up driving the wrong way for nearly two miles on a suburban parkway before slamming into the SUV.The July 26 crash on the Taconic State Parkway, about 35 miles northwest of New York City, also killed three men in the SUV. Schuler’s 5-year-old son, in her minivan, survived.Investigators said Schuler had been driving erratically on other upstate roads before getting on the highway for the 140-mile trip home.