Diane Schuler: The Crash, Toxicology, and Lawsuits

The Diane Schuler Taconic crash was a wrong-way collision on the Taconic State Parkway in Westchester County, New York, on July 26, 2009, that killed eight people, including Schuler, three of her nieces, her two-year-old daughter, and three men in the SUV she struck head-on. Toxicology showed Schuler was driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.19 and high levels of THC. No criminal charges were filed because she died in the crash. What followed was years of civil litigation, a family that refused to accept the toxicology, and a question no investigation answered: why a woman described by everyone who knew her as a devoted mother was drunk and high behind the wheel that morning with five children in the car.

What Happened on the Taconic That Morning

Schuler, 36, was driving home to Long Island from a weekend at Hunter Lake Campground in Parksville, New York. She left the campground around 9:30 a.m. in a red Chevy Trailblazer borrowed from her brother, Warren Hance, with her two children and three nieces in the vehicle. Her husband, Daniel, drove separately in the family’s camper.¹

Early in the drive nothing seemed wrong. A McDonald’s security camera at 9:56 a.m. showed the children eating and playing while Schuler ordered food; the cashier said she “acted normally.” At a gas station stop at 10:46 a.m., Schuler asked for gel-cap analgesics and employees said she “seemed fine.”¹

Something shifted over the next two hours. Schuler’s eight-year-old niece, Emma Hance, called her father at 11:37 a.m. to say they were running late. A follow-up call at 12:08 p.m. sounded normal. At 12:56 p.m., Emma called again in a panic, telling her father Diane was “incoherent” and “confused” and that they were lost. The call dropped.² Schuler’s cell phone was later found on top of a wall by a bridge near the highway, suggesting she had gotten out of the vehicle at some point.³

Warren Hance called the New York State Police around 1:00 p.m. to ask them to look for the minivan. Two troopers were dispatched, but it was too late.³ Schuler had entered the Taconic State Parkway heading south in the northbound lanes. Motorists said she drove with both hands on the wheel, staring straight ahead with what witnesses described as a “serene and oblivious look” on her face. After 1.7 miles the wrong way, her minivan struck an SUV head-on.⁴

Who Died and Who Survived

Eight people were killed: Diane Schuler; her two-year-old daughter, Erin; her nieces Emma (8), Alyson (7), and Katie Hance (5); and the three occupants of the SUV, Guy Bastardi (49), his father Michael Bastardi (81), and their friend Daniel Longo (74), all of Yonkers, New York.⁴

The sole survivor was Schuler’s five-year-old son, Bryan, who was pulled from the wreckage with two broken legs, a broken arm, and serious eye injuries. He was treated at Westchester Medical Center and later transferred to a rehabilitation facility.⁵ 6 A 2011 court filing described him as “permanently disabled with severe injuries to his eyes, arm, and legs.”⁷

What the Autopsy and Toxicology Found

The autopsy was performed by Westchester County Medical Examiner Dr. Millard Hyland. Schuler’s blood alcohol content was 0.19, more than twice the New York legal limit of 0.08. Six grams of undigested alcohol remained in her stomach, the equivalent of roughly ten drinks that had not yet been metabolized.⁸ She also had high levels of THC in her system; investigators concluded she had smoked marijuana as recently as fifteen minutes before the crash.⁹ A bottle of Absolut vodka was recovered from the minivan.⁴

The medical examiner’s office found no evidence of a stroke, heart attack, aneurysm, or any other medical condition that could account for her driving the wrong way. The autopsy also showed she was a “social drinker” with no signs of long-term alcohol damage to her organs.¹⁰¹¹

Why No Criminal Charges Were Filed

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced on August 18, 2009, that no criminal charges would be brought. “Diane Schuler died in the crash, and the charges died with her,” DiFiore said.¹¹

Prosecutors considered whether Daniel Schuler could be charged. DiFiore said that would have required evidence linking him directly to his wife’s condition or proving he knew she was intoxicated when she left the campground.¹² Sullivan County District Attorney Stephen Lungen said there was no indication Schuler was impaired when she initially departed the campground. Daniel Schuler cooperated with state police “to the extent his lawyer allowed,” though he declined to answer questions about marijuana use.¹¹

The Family’s Denial and Alternative Theories

From the day the toxicology results became public, Daniel Schuler refused to accept them. At an August 6, 2009 press conference he told reporters: “I never saw her drunk since the day I met her. She was not a drinker. She was not an alcoholic.” He called Diane a “perfect wife and mother” and said his “heart is clear.”¹⁰

His attorney, Dominic Barbara, did not dispute the toxicology results themselves. Barbara argued that “something happened to her brain” and proposed an untreated tooth abscess may have triggered a stroke that caused Schuler to become disoriented or consume alcohol involuntarily. He also pointed to gestational diabetes diagnosed during her last pregnancy.¹³ Medical experts responded that the autopsy showed no evidence of stroke, and that an exhumation Barbara publicly discussed in September 2009 was unlikely to yield useful evidence. There is no public record that any exhumation took place.¹⁴

Marc Galanter, director of the Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse at NYU, offered a blunt assessment: “Families are often in denial and can’t deal with the reality that a family member has a problem.” He noted that close family members are sometimes the last to know about substance abuse issues.¹⁰

Daniel Schuler also hired private investigator Thomas Ruskin to find evidence supporting the family’s account. Ruskin located a gas-station surveillance video showing Schuler walking with no apparent difficulty earlier in the day. But he ultimately turned against the family’s narrative, telling reporters: “His wife was drunk and high at the time of the accident that killed seven innocent people. You don’t keep suing people… If she was alive today, Diane would likely be in jail.”¹⁵

Police interviews also revealed that Schuler smoked marijuana regularly to relieve stress, even as friends insisted she “hardly drank.” Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Harold Bursztajn characterized her behavior as “fundamental perfectionism” rooted in unhealed childhood trauma; her mother had abandoned the family when Diane was nine, and a friend said “she never complained about it. She never talked about it, almost like she wasn’t even there.”¹⁵

The Civil Lawsuits and Settlements

With criminal charges off the table, the case moved into civil court, where the suits went in every direction.

The Bastardi family filed the first lawsuit in December 2009 in White Plains against Diane Schuler’s estate and Warren Hance, who owned the minivan. The complaint alleged the victims suffered “terror, mental anguish, and serious personal injuries” and that Schuler was intoxicated, drove the wrong way for over a mile, and ignored warnings from other motorists.¹⁶
In July 2011, Daniel Schuler filed suit in Suffolk County Court on behalf of his surviving son and deceased daughter, naming Diane Schuler’s estate administrator, Warren Hance, and the executrix of the Bastardi estate. His complaint alleged that both Diane Schuler and Guy Bastardi were driving recklessly and that both vehicles were “in a state of disrepair.”⁷
Daniel Schuler separately sued New York State, claiming the highway was “badly designed and inadequately sign-posted.”¹⁷
Jackie Hance, Warren’s wife, filed her own lawsuit against Daniel Schuler the same week.⁷

Four of the lawsuits were settled by a disposition date of September 11, 2013, with confidential terms. The cases were heard in state Supreme Court in Westchester County and the records were sealed. The settlements covered claims by the estates of Guy Bastardi, Michael Bastardi, and Daniel Longo, along with claims involving Bryan Schuler and the estate of Erin Schuler. As of the last public reporting, two additional cases in the state Court of Claims alleging faulty roadway design remained pending.¹⁸

What Was Never Answered

In July 2011, HBO aired There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, directed by Liz Garbus. The title came from Emma Hance’s last phone call to her parents. The film featured Daniel Schuler and his sister-in-law Jay Schuler, who continued to insist a medical emergency was responsible; it gave voice to the Bastardi family, who viewed Daniel Schuler’s denial as an insult to the dead. The Hance family did not participate.¹⁹²⁰

The documentary offered no definitive account of how or why Schuler began drinking that morning. That gap is largely why the case remains in public memory. The toxicology answered what happened. No investigation, no lawsuit, and no family member has answered why.

1
Newsday. Timeline for Tragedy on Taconic Parkway
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ABC News. Taconic Crash Investigation
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Newsday. Taconic Crash Victim’s Cell Found on Roadside
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News 12. Taconic Tragedy: 10 Years Later
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ABC News. Bryan Schuler, Taconic Crash Survivor
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NBC New York. Wrong-Way Crash Survivor Leaves Hospital
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Courthouse News. Another Claim in Wrong-Way Deaths of 8
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ABC News. Taconic Crash Toxicology Report
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NBC New York. Anbesol to Blame for Wrong-Way Crash, Lawyer Says
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ABC 7 NY. Schuler Family Press Conference
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Record Online. Charges Died With Taconic Wrong-Way Driver
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NBC New York. DA, Cops Meet on Wrong-Way Taconic Crash
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New York Times. Driver’s Husband Denies She Had Drinking Problem
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Greenwich Time. Experts: Wrong-Way Driver Was Drunk
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ABC News. Diane Schuler: Super Mom, Perfectionist
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CBS News. Victims Sue Estate of Wrong-Way Crash Mom
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CBS News New York. Widower Sues State After Tragic Wrong-Way Crash
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Newsday. Four Civil Suits Against Diane Schuler Estate Settled
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Pallimed Arts. There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane Review
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THIRTEEN. What Was Wrong With Aunt Diane