The 2009 Taconic State Parkway Crash: Aunt Diane Was Drunk And High
On this day 12 years ago, Daniel and Diane Schuler woke up at about 6 am to have coffee and clean out their boat and camper at Hunter Lake Campground in NY. They had spent the weekend camping with their 2 kids; Erin, 2, and Bryan, 5, and their 3 nieces, Emma, 9, Alyson, 7, and Katie, 5.
The families lived in West Babylon on Long Island in NY. Diane worked days as the director of billing and collections at Cablevision and Daniel worked nights as a Security Officer for the Parks Department. The couple didn’t see a lot of each other during the week and Diane was the one who took care of the kids, the house, and everything in between. Daniel’s mother jokingly referred to Daniel as Diane’s 3rd child.
Diane’s brother Warren Hance and his wife Jackie let the girls go on the trip with their aunt, uncle, and cousins because they went the previous year and had a great time. Diane and Warren’s dad was supposed to make the trip with them but he ended up with other plans so he didn’t go. Diane had told Jackie that another adult that they all knew would be going instead, but that didn’t happen. Jackie’s entire world revolved around her daughters and she was very protective but she wanted them to have fun experiences and spend time with their cousins.
Daniel went up to the campground early so he could set everything up. Diane along with Erin and Bryan picked up the Hance girls and headed up to Hunter Lake in the Hance’s minivan. Pictures would show the family enjoying their weekend together, boating and fishing out in the sun and fresh air.
Sunday, July 26th, 2009 was a beautiful summer day, it was hot and sunny and the sky was a clear, peaceful blue. The Schulers finished packing up their luggage at about 9:30 am and Daniel loaded it into his pickup truck. He got in the pickup truck with the family dog and Diane and the 5 kids got into the red minivan that she had borrowed from Warren and Jackie for the trip. They left the campground and headed toward home.
At 9:56 am, Diane stopped at a McDonald’s in Liberty NY. Video from security cameras show the children eating and then playing inside the play area. Diane may have ordered an orange juice for herself. The cashier would later say that Diane was behaving normally and seemed sober.
They left the McDonald’s at 10:33 am and at 10:46 am, Diane stopped at a gas station. She went inside and apparently asked for pain pills which they didn’t carry so she went back to the minivan. The video of Diane from the gas station doesn’t show any obvious signs of intoxication or impairment and the staff would later say Diane seemed sober.
At 10:58 am, Diane pulled out of the gas station and headed south on Route 17 going toward Long Island. By this time, Daniel had already arrived home and went to sleep because he had to work that night.
At 11:37 am, Emma Hance called her dad from Diane’s phone and told him that they might be late. Warren then spoke to Diane who confirmed that they may be late and at that time, Diane sounded perfectly normal.
Between 11:30 am and 12 pm witnesses saw the red minivan being driven aggressively on Route 17 in Orange County. One witness said they saw Diane pulled over on Route 17 at 11:45 am and she was bent over as if she was vomiting. That same witness said a few minutes later, the red minivan passed them on the highway and was swerving in and out of traffic.
Jackie Hance called Diane at 12:08 pm to ask her how many tickets she would need for Emma’s upcoming school show. They spoke for about 2 minutes and Jackie said that everything seemed to be fine.
Between 12:15 pm and 12:45 pm, witnesses saw the minivan pulled over and Diane again appearing to be vomiting outside the car. Others saw the van swerving, honking the horn for an unusual amount of time, and driving aggressively.
At 12:55 pm, a wrong number was dialed from Diane’s phone. The call lasted 17 seconds. 3 minutes later, Diane called Jackie and she sounded “out of it”. They were on the call for about 2 1/2 minutes when the call dropped or Diane ended the call. At 1:01 pm, Warren walked into the house just as the call between Diane and Jackie ended. He called his sister back and they spoke for 8 minutes. While on the phone with Warren, Diane went through the Tappanzee toll at 1:02 pm. Although Warren has never shared everything that was said on that call, he did say that Diane seemed disoriented. It’s been said that Diane called Warren by her husband’s name on that phone call.
Diane pulled the car over and her niece Emma spoke to Warren. She sounded upset but told her dad she was okay and that there was something wrong with Aunt Diane. He heard the kids crying in the background. Emma told him she saw signs for Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. Warren then spoke to Diane. She allegedly told him that she was disoriented and couldn’t see and Warren told her to stay where she was, he was coming to get them.
As Warren rushed out of the house, Jackie and some friends began contacting the police. There was a question about the jurisdiction so they were given other, non-emergency numbers to call. The Hance’s were under the impression at this time that Diane was having a medical emergency and she needed help. The calls to 911 continued even after Diane was already dead.
At 1:10 pm, 4 wrong numbers were dialed back to back from Diane’s phone. Somewhere between 1:10 pm and 1:15 pm, Diane’s phone was left on the concrete guardrail just past the toll booths and Diane drove off. Warren called Diane’s phone again at 1:15 pm and it went to voicemail. He called more than a dozen times over the next 20 minutes and all of the calls went to voicemail.
Shortly after 1:30 pm, Diane Schuler made a right turn from Pleasantville Road, onto the exit ramp for the Taconic State Parkway. She drove the wrong way, south into northbound traffic at over 75mph, and continued for 1.7 miles. Over a dozen drivers were forced to move out of her way or be hit.
At 1:35 pm, Diane drove head-on into an SUV that was carrying Michael Bastardi, 81, his son, Guy Bastardi, 49, and their friend Daniel Longo, 74. The three men were heading to a family member’s home for a pasta dinner, but tragically they never made it. All 3 were killed in the crash. Another vehicle was hit also, but the occupants of that vehicle were miraculously unharmed.
After the impact, the red minivan rolled over and went down an embankment, landing in the grass on the median. The minivan was on fire and witnesses tried to pull the victims out of the vehicle. Diane, her daughter, and all 3 of her nieces died in the crash. 5-year-old Bryan was the only survivor and he had a serious head injury.
Witnesses would later say that Diane drove that 1.7 mile stretch with her eyes on the road, both hands on the wheel, and an almost serene look on her face.
The Schuler and Hance families were both devastated and received an outpouring of love and support from friends, family, and their community. Warren Hance spoke so highly of his sister at the funerals; she was an amazing mom, an incredible aunt, a wonderful wife, and a great sister. Daniel spoke of his wife as a perfect wife and mother; she was a saint.
Several days later, Diane’s toxicology results were made public. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.19 more than twice the legal limit of 0.8 and she had high levels of THC in her system, indicating that she had smoked marijuana within 15 minutes to an hour before crashing. There had also been a broken vodka bottle found in the wreckage of the accident that Daniel confirmed Diane had taken from their camper.
This revelation changed everything. Warren and Jackie Hance both became severely depressed, considering suicide. Warren lost his sister and his 3 little girls and now it seemed that his sister was actually at fault and she wasn’t having a medical emergency. Communication between the families stopped.
There were numerous lawsuits that have since been settled and sealed; some against Diane’s estate and others against Warren Hance because he was the owner of the vehicle Diane was driving. Daniel Schuler sued the city, claiming the highway was unsafe. (You’ve got to be kidding me.)
Daniel first said that Diane never drank, then it changed to rarely drank, and then it changed to a drink once or twice a month. He said she didn’t smoke marijuana, but her sister-in-law confirmed that Diane smoked every night because she had trouble sleeping.
Still, Daniel Schuler and his sister-in-law Jay refused to believe that Diane would have ever done anything to jeopardize the kids so they hired a lawyer and private investigator. They wanted to find another reason that this could have happened; could an infection in her tooth have spread to her brain, did she have a stroke while driving causing her to think that the vodka was water? Was that even Diane’s blood that was tested or was there an error made at the lab? The samples that were tested were later proven to be from Diane and there were no lab errors made.
There’s a documentary about the case called There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane and it’s available for free on YouTube. I’ve watched it several times over the years and I always walk away feeling the same. We don’t know when exactly, but some time that morning, Diane had in fact, consumed marijuana and alcohol. Based on her weight she had about 10 shots of liquor and there was more in her stomach that hadn’t been digested yet.
I don’t think it was a suicide mission for Diane. While she may have believed her kids would be better off dead because she was their main caregiver and provider, I don’t think she would have killed her nieces. My belief is that Diane thought she was in control and could handle herself while drinking and somewhere along the line, she misjudged. She may have had a toothache and self-medicated. Alcohol and marijuana can enhance each other’s effect on the body and it’s possible that Diane didn’t realize how much until it actually happened. Either way, she was drunk and high at the time of the crash. Diane Schuler killed herself and 7 others that day. It was the worst accident in that area in 75 years and it devastated so many.
Warren and Jackie started The Hance Family Foundation to honor the lives of Emma, Alyson, and Katie. The foundation provides unique self-esteem programs worldwide. In 2012, Jackie and Warren Hance welcomed a baby girl into their family. She was named Kasey Rose.
Bryan Schuler, the only survivor of the Taconic crash, is about 17 now and I hope that he has had the treatment and love he needed to heal mentally and physically from the tragedy he survived.
I’m not sure what Daniel Schuler is doing now, there have been so many rumors that can’t be confirmed and it seems he’s kept a low profile since the accident happened. It appears that HBO paid Daniel Schuler and there was money available to pay for Diane’s body to be exhumed and re-examined but I can’t find anything at all that shows that was ever done.
While I can understand a family being in denial, my gut says that wasn’t the issue for Daniel Schuler. Every time I watch the documentary, I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth. I would love to hear your opinions on this case and on the documentary.
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Originally published at http://madgingerentertainment.com.
