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At this point it is probably safe to say that the majority of Americans are familiar with the Taconic Parkway tragedy from back in July. Where Diane Schuler drove the wrong way down the Taconic Pkwy with five children in a minivan, drunk and stoned; crashing head-on with a SUV carrying three people. A total of eight people died in the wreck, the sole survivor was Diane Schuler's five-year-old Brian Schuler; it's is a blessing that more were not injured in that horrific accident. Schuler's husband Daniel has repeatedly claimed that Diane was not an alcoholic and that she hardly ever drank, furthermore, Daniel states that he had never seen her drunk. As for the marijuana, well, apparently that was only for medicinal purposes to help her sleep. Daniel Schuler went so far as to hire a private detective to dispute the toxicology findings, but, basically the investigator Tom Rushkin has been hired to poke holes in the case against Diane. The latest defense put forth is interesting to say the least! Tom Ruskin stated, "That Taconic mom Diane Schuler couldn't have been drunk and high when she crashed her car driving the wrong way down the Taconic because she ordered Chicken Selects from McDonalds four hours earlier", reports The Village Voice. One has to wonder how it is possible, after seven innocent people lost their lives, that Rushkin and Schuler's husband could think that would prove her innocence.
Apparently, Schuler could not have been drunk or stoned, she argued with a McDonalds' employee and demanded to speak to a manager about ordering something not on the breakfast menu - Chicken Selects. A McDonalds' employee who served Schuler filled out an affidavit and failed to mention that Schuler seemed intoxicated, and that is the argument in a nutshell. Maybe Schuler wasn't inebriated at the McDonalds, but, there was another four hours until the fatal crash which would be plenty of time to drink and smoke. Diane "was seen by three witnesses vomiting at the side of the road on the morning of the crash. At the time of that report, Ruskin said that if it was Schuler vomiting, it proved that she was incapacitated by illness and not by pot and alcohol", according to The Village Voice. It is unbelievable how hard evidence against Diane Schuler keeps popping up and Rushkin keeps dreaming up magical alternatives to why Schuler couldn't be intoxicated. Incapacitated by illness, like alcohol has never made people vomit when they mix alcohol with pot?
Diane Schuler was an alcoholic who took the lives of many people with her addiction. The evidence all points in the same direction and the longer people try to cover for Diane the worse it makes her and the entire family look. Is it possible that Diane hid her disease from everyone, sure it's possible; but, there are people out there who know what happened on that tragic day and they are not speaking up. If anything, the truth is owed to the loved ones of the deceased; why belabor this tragedy any longer. Everyday, people get behind the wheel intoxicated even with children, as we saw in Schuler's case; New York just passed a bill that makes driving intoxicated with a child in the car a felony. Unfortunately, laws have very little sway against an addicted mind.
The video below seems slow and pointless until the end when everything suddenly speeds up. Or at least that is how it appears. We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
What if your secrets had the power to take the lives of innocent people? Every day millions of people struggle with the disease of addiction under the radar of their friends and family. The stigmas that accompany alcoholism drive many high functioning alcoholics into the closet. The thought of being branded an alcoholic by one's peers is too much for a mother or father that suffers from the disease to handle. High functioning addicts work overtime to cover up their problem, with the hope that they can go just one more day undetected.
Unfortunately, those same high functioning alcoholics are the people, the Diane Schuler's, we have seen in the news lately. Addiction can be invisible and go unchecked by friends and family for many years, then, tragically one day an accident takes place that strips innocent people of their lives. Oprah recently did a special covering the topic of mothers who have managed to hide their addiction from everyone and then were in horrific accidents. She talked with the family members of the people who died in the Schuler accident, as well toxicology experts who were involved with case. What is clearly evident is that many people, even after the accident, are in denial about the severity of Diane Schuler's problem; Schuler's husband even hired a private investigator to prove that the toxicology reports were false and that there is no way she was an alcoholic or was even drinking that day - let alone high on marijuana. Only three months after the accident, Oprah's special on Diane Schuler's accident points out and makes even more clear that it is very difficult to argue with science; there is no sense trying to prove that Schuler was not an alcoholic, what matters is spreading the message that we need to confront our loved ones if we suspect there is a problem.
Denial is a major component to addiction thriving inside people unchecked. Diane Schuler's family's protestations that there was no problem is very hard to believe given the evidence. Even after the tragedy, a tragedy that took seven innocent people's lives, Schuler's husband will not face the facts. This story has brought a surge of women who are stepping up and declaring that they have a problem which they have managed to hide; before anything tragic happens in their lives it is time to start speaking out to raise awareness. There is no reason children's lives should be placed in jeopardy, if you recognize that there is a problem with a friend or family member the responsible thing to do is speak out about it. You never know how many lives could be saved by a single act of concern; there are many support networks that can be tapped in order to save someone from the disease of addiction.
Addiction is 'cunning, baffling, and powerful'; strong words with a lot of weight and even more truth! Diane Schuler killed four members of her family, herself, and three men in another vehicle in a devastating accident that has gripped the nation. An accident that has the world wondering what exactly goes on right in front of their eyes. The idea that everyone knows someone that is hiding their addiction can be hard to swallow; after close examination, when you scratch beneath the surface it can sometimes reveal things that we wish we were not aware of. What can make a person snap, drink alcohol and smoke pot while caring for several children is no mystery. The mystery is how no one saw this coming or spoke up about it before something occurred like what happened on the Taconic. Alcohol addiction and the lies that come along with it destroys families.
The truth is that most people know very little about alcoholism and addiction; even more so they don't understand how to intervene before it is too late and something bad happens. Ultimately when something bad happens, like in Schuler's case and even Jackson's case, everyone is in denial about what was actually going on. Denial is the first response in families and friends when something terrible occurs, it's the natural order. No one wants to believe the unbelievable! I think in most people's minds they feel somewhat responsible for the fallout of their loved one's explosions, again a natural occurrence. The fact of the matter is that everyday people's lives are forever altered by addiction, whether first hand or second; education is the only barrier, the only defense against the disease of addiction.
If you think you are seeing signs, then you probably are. If you know someone who is afflicted with this disease (and we all do), take the first step. Learn what you can and must do. I invite you to watch an ABC News Nightline Report "Hidden Addictions."
Someone once said, "Some people fail to notice; others fail to care."
The country is still wondering how the car crash that left eight people dead on the Taconic Parkway could have happened. The husband of the intoxicated driver, Diane Schuler, insists that his wife was not an alcoholic and that there must have been something else operating on that tragic day; claiming that a possible 'stroke-like' attack could have been the cause of everything that happened on the Taconic. With a blood alcohol level of .19% and high on marijuana it is hard to believe that there was not a problem; even if she was not an alcoholic, we could even remove alcohol form the entire picture, there is no reason why she should been "high" with five children in the car with her. Nevertheless, Diane Schuler was high and drunk when she drove the wrong way towards oncoming traffic. It seems that the writing is pretty clear and that Schuler's husband may have been in the dark about her substance abuse problem. It's highly unlikely, but, possible he did not see that his wife had a problem.
On the other hand, Mr. Schuler was arrested for a DUI over ten years ago and so it stands to reason that he could be an alcoholic as well. Furthermore, Diane Schuler's husband has to argue that this was out of the ordinary behavior because he let her drive away with the kids that morning; if he admits to knowing about his wife's addiction he could be held partially responsible for the events of that day. Some journalists are reporting and I find it interesting that Mr. Schuler's son, the only survivor that day, may not have been released back to his father until the authorities decide whether it is a safe and healthy environment. Mr. Schuler has hired a top-notch attorney to represent him, almost as if he knows that he did something wrong that day. They argue that a possible 'stroke-like attack is to blame for such irrational behavior on the Taconic by Diane Schuler; experts say that it is highly unlikely that was the cause. "This is a killing. Don't call it an accident", said Irving Anolik the Bastardi family's attorney. Anolik argues that medical condition theories are "at war with the autopsy report, with the blood analysis, with the whole panorama of things that surround this killing."
It's probably best not to speculate too much into what went on that day until all the facts are in. I will say that it will be interesting to see what the authorities figure out and if the victims' families will see any justice. Is it possible that Mr. Schuler had no idea that his wife had a problem? It's not like someone wakes up one morning and makes the decision to start binge drinking vodka! I encourage you to watch a short video with Dr. Nancy Snyderman, on the Today Show, about whether or not you can hide a drinking problem from your family.
A terrible event took place on July 26 along a Westchester Highway in New York State. Tests show that the driver was drunk in parkway crash that killed eight; not only drunk but also high on marijuana. There are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding why Diane Schuler would drive intoxicated with her: son Bryan 5, daughter Erin 2, and her three nieces, Emma Hance, 8; Alyson Hance, 7; and Kate Hance, 5. Diane Schuler had a blood alcohol level of .19 and had un-metabolized vodka still in her stomach when she drove the wrong way head on into a Chevy Trailblazer driven by Guy Bastardi along with his father Michael, and family friend Daniel Longo who were all killed in the tragic crash. Only one person, Diane Shuler's son Bryan, made it out of the wreck with his life and is still hospitalized.
Diane Schuler did not survive to account for her actions on that terrible day, who pays for this crime and who will explain how Schuler was allowed to drive off into the sunset wasted with so many children? A New York Times Article stated, "On July 26, Ms. Schuler loaded her two children, Erin, 2, and Bryan, 5, and her three nieces into the minivan to drive them home from a camping trip in the Catskills. Her husband, Daniel, also left the campground at the same time, with a dog, in his pickup truck, said Ann Scott, the owner of the Hunter Lake Campground, where the Schulers had spent most of their summer weekends for the past three years". Scott said on Tuesday that she never saw either of them with a drink that morning and that everything seemed normal.
“When I stopped to say hello to her, the kids were yelling in the car, saying, ‘We had a good time, we’re coming back,’ ” Ms. Scott said. “The husband just waved like he usually did with a smile on his face. She was fine. I said, ‘Have a safe trip home.’ She said, ‘See you soon.’ And that was it. And off she went. It was as normal as apple pie.” I guess things were not normal when a mother is driving down a highway high on marijuana and a bottle of Absolut Vodka between her legs with a van full of children. It does not make sense to me that no one noticed that something wasn't right when Schuler drove off that morning. Neither her husband nor Ann Scott can account for what took place to make Diane Schuler such a big risk, a risk that many would have to pay for with their lives.
As I said above, there are many unanswered questions, many questions that may never be resolved; however, this event can serve as a "teaching moment" for families. If you see behavior that is out of the ordinary, then don't be afraid to start a dialogue with your family member. It could save their life and others.
