8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway #2

[foilsman]

Dear Arielilane, Your many post have been ,to me, hearfelt although when you say "She
started drinking and smoking early... indicates you were present at the time of these
events.
What indications are you refering to "it appears she had plenty of time to stop what she was doing....
You seem to have some inside knowledge as to Diane's intensions that day. as do many who have posted here in the last three years

[Nova]

Arielilane is simply doing what we are all doing: drawing conclusions from circumstantial evidence. It's all anybody can do, since the most important eyewitnesses are all dead, except for one very little boy who doesn't remember.

After rereading the last couple of pages, I think the simplest explanation is that Diane speaks with her brother, lays down the phone and immediately forgets about it. She then takes a wrong ramp and heads north instead of south.

She is still drinking and/or smoking dope so her comprehension continues to deteriorate and it is some time before she realizes her error. She may also be distracted by whatever caused the heavy drinking in the first place. (IIRC the highways in that area twist and turn quite a bit. Anyone could be confused as to north v. south, but a drunk would be especially likely to be befuddled.)

When she finally realizes her error, she takes the next ramp to go back south. Unfortunately, in her drunken state, she confuses a north-bound ramp for a south-band ramp and is now driving against the flow of traffic. (The video shows how easy it would be for an impaired person to do so.)

The kids see her error and are screaming. Diane panics and drunkenly decides the best course is to go as fast as possible to get to a place where she can get off the highway. This is of course fatally stupid, but she is too impaired to think logically. So she races the wrong way in the fast lane, honking to ward off oncoming traffic while looking for a place to get off the highway.

With the other car approaching at 75 mph and Diane going 80 (while looking for an exit), she may not even see the car she hits.

Occam aside, the simplest explanation isn't always the accurate one. But I think the above is more likely than a conscious murder/suicide by such potentially ineffective means.

[Only4Justice]

Originally Posted by Nova

Arielilane is simply doing what we are all doing: drawing conclusions from circumstantial evidence. It's all anybody can do, since the most important eyewitnesses are all dead, except for one very little boy who doesn't remember.

After rereading the last couple of pages, I think the simplest explanation is that Diane speaks with her brother, lays down the phone and immediately forgets about it. She then takes a wrong ramp and heads north instead of south.

She is still drinking and/or smoking dope so her comprehension continues to deteriorate and it is some time before she realizes her error. She may also be distracted by whatever caused the heavy drinking in the first place. (IIRC the highways in that area twist and turn quite a bit. Anyone could be confused as to north v. south, but a drunk would be especially likely to be befuddled.)

When she finally realizes her error, she takes the next ramp to go back south. Unfortunately, in her drunken state, she confuses a north-bound ramp for a south-band ramp and is now driving against the flow of traffic. (The video shows how easy it would be for an impaired person to do so.)

The kids see her error and are screaming. Diane panics and drunkenly decides the best course is to go as fast as possible to get to a place where she can get off the highway. This is of course fatally stupid, but she is too impaired to think logically. So she races the wrong way in the fast lane, honking to ward off oncoming traffic while looking for a place to get off the highway.

With the other car approaching at 75 mph and Diane going 80 (while looking for an exit), she may not even see the car she hits.

Occam aside, the simplest explanation isn't always the accurate one. But I think the above is more likely than a conscious murder/suicide by such potentially ineffective means.

NOVA....once again, I completely agree with you. Thanks for this post.

This, to me, is the most logical explanation (although following early posts, sometimes an ILLOGICAL act cannot be understood).

Prayers to little Bryan.

[foilsman]

I have read the discussion here on Diane's health at the time but little mention whether Diane may have had high cholesterol, high or low blood pressure, thyroid problems or any of several other modern diagnosed physical illnesses or combinations there of, and it was also odvious Diane was overweight from a degree of an eating disorder.

I think it was Diane's indiscreet eating habits that ultimately caused the crash.

On Saturday night, late, Diane consumed some tainted food which did not manifest itself until the following mid-morning.
I have had this same nightmare happen to me in the same time frame while also on a road trip. This affliction is called foodborne disease/illness or food poisoning.

[Betty P]

Originally Posted by Nova

Arielilane is simply doing what we are all doing: drawing conclusions from circumstantial evidence. It's all anybody can do, since the most important eyewitnesses are all dead, except for one very little boy who doesn't remember.

After rereading the last couple of pages, I think the simplest explanation is that Diane speaks with her brother, lays down the phone and immediately forgets about it. She then takes a wrong ramp and heads north instead of south.

She is still drinking and/or smoking dope so her comprehension continues to deteriorate and it is some time before she realizes her error. She may also be distracted by whatever caused the heavy drinking in the first place. (IIRC the highways in that area twist and turn quite a bit. Anyone could be confused as to north v. south, but a drunk would be especially likely to be befuddled.)

When she finally realizes her error, she takes the next ramp to go back south. Unfortunately, in her drunken state, she confuses a north-bound ramp for a south-band ramp and is now driving against the flow of traffic. (The video shows how easy it would be for an impaired person to do so.)

The kids see her error and are screaming. Diane panics and drunkenly decides the best course is to go as fast as possible to get to a place where she can get off the highway. This is of course fatally stupid, but she is too impaired to think logically. So she races the wrong way in the fast lane, honking to ward off oncoming traffic while looking for a place to get off the highway.

With the other car approaching at 75 mph and Diane going 80 (while looking for an exit), she may not even see the car she hits.

Occam aside, the simplest explanation isn't always the accurate one. But I think the above is more likely than a conscious murder/suicide by such potentially ineffective means.

I, too, agree with this scenario. In Diane's police report, there is mention of at least 3 different witnesses who saw her driving the wrong way on the TSP. Each said the minivan was half in the lane and half on the shoulder (towards the median). It seems she was trying to find a place to get off the highway. See pages 10 and 11.

http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/...ice_report.pdf

Sad story, don't drink and get high while driving.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by foilsman

I have read the discussion here on Diane's health at the time but little mention whether Diane may have had high cholesterol, high or low blood pressure, thyroid problems or any of several other modern diagnosed physical illnesses or combinations there of, and it was also odvious Diane was overweight from a degree of an eating disorder.

I think it was Diane's indiscreet eating habits that ultimately caused the crash.

On Saturday night, late, Diane consumed some tainted food which did not manifest itself until the following mid-morning.
I have had this same nightmare happen to me in the same time frame while also on a road trip. This affliction is called foodborne disease/illness or food poisoning.

I'm not challenging your opinion; I'm just asking for clarification.

How does food poisoning jive with the alcohol in her system and stomach? The last time I had food poisoning, I couldn't have kept alcohol down for days afterward.

[LadyL]

Originally Posted by Betty P

I, too, agree with this scenario. In Diane's police report, there is mention of at least 3 different witnesses who saw her driving the wrong way on the TSP. Each said the minivan was half in the lane and half on the shoulder (towards the median). It seems she was trying to find a place to get off the highway. See pages 10 and 11.

http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/...ice_report.pdf

Sad story, don't drink and get high while driving.

if she was trying to get off the highway, wouldn't it naturally follow that she decrease her speed?

[LadyL]

Originally Posted by sharkeyes

Watched it 3 more times on In Demand before it expired on Jan. 2. I'm hung up on the gas station attendant...googled/searched like crazy for something...anything relative to a statement he made. I find nothing in the police report: http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/...ice_report.pdf

other than a reference to the video of Diane at the Sunoco station being part of the evidence. I want to know if the Sunoco attendant was interviewed and what statements he gave. It's difficult to tell what she says to him in the video, but she does say something to him, however brief.

As I watched the doc this time around, I found myself asking "why didn't you tell the kids to get out of the van and stay out...and to call 911 and not get back in that van no matter what, make a scene, flag down a car, scream, cry, stomp your feet, but don't get back in the van" when Warren called Diane and asked her to put Emma on the phone when they were stopped at Tarrytown. I know he told them to "stay put", he had no idea what was about to happen.

I also am leaning toward Diane thinking that SHE was the one going the right way and it was the other people driving the wrong way...it would fit right in with her personality/controlling nature...and many of us probably know what it's like trying to get a person who is *****faced drunk to understand when they're wrong.

[bbm]

seems about right to me

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by Nova

I'm not challenging your opinion; I'm just asking for clarification.

How does food poisoning jive with the alcohol in her system and stomach? The last time I had food poisoning, I couldn't have kept alcohol down for days afterward.

Dear Nova, It does not "jive"..which is my point.
I believe Diane injured herself during one or more of her attemps to purge the poison from her system.
To speculate about Diane's behavior and for those who portray her as irresponsible, etc.,
after a certain point in her travels that day is itself irresponsible.

[LadyL]

Originally Posted by foilsman

Dear Nova, It does not "jive"..which is my point.
I believe Diane injured herself during one or more of her attemps to purge the poison from her system.
To speculate about Diane's behavior and for those who portray her as irresponsible, etc.,
after a certain point in her travels that day is itself irresponsible.

[bbm]

at what point would you say her responsibility ended?

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by LadyL

[bbm]

at what point would you say her responsibility ended?

Dear Lady L, Thats not easy to determine but I think Diane's responsibility had begun to wane
shortly before crossing the TZ Bridge.. but for sure when she pulled over on the east side and talked with her brother by phone.

[Fairy1]

We will never know what was in Diane's mind and heart that day. Never. IMO, it's pointless to try to determine it.

And Danny doesn't know, either. IMO.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by LadyL

if she was trying to get off the highway, wouldn't it naturally follow that she decrease her speed?

Yes, logically, but that's exactly the type of reasoning that alcohol impairs.

I imagine her rushing to find a place to get off the road, intending to slow down as soon as she found her "exit". If, as we all suspect, the children were screaming, that may have only increased her haste.

Of course, she should have just pulled off to the side and stopped. But that would have certainly attracted police attention and a sobriety test. Maybe she wasn't too drunk to realize that much.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by LadyL

[bbm]

seems about right to me

Yet another possibility is that she was so impaired she actually thought she was driving on a two-way, no-median highway. She was, after all, driving on the "right-hand" side.

But the eyewitness testimony saying she was driving half in the fast lane and half in the breakdown lane tends to support the theory that she had realized she was going the wrong way and was looking for a way out. (Or she was too drunk to stay in her lane.)

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by Fairy1

We will never know what was in Diane's mind and heart that day. Never. IMO, it's pointless to try to determine it.

And Danny doesn't know, either. IMO.

Dear Fairy1, I think you know exactly what was in Diane's mind and heart that day..Diane was trying with all her heart and mind to get those kids back home as I am sure if you were in her place you would have been doing the same.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by foilsman

Dear Nova, It does not "jive"..which is my point.
I believe Diane injured herself during one or more of her attemps to purge the poison from her system.
To speculate about Diane's behavior and for those who portray her as irresponsible, etc.,
after a certain point in her travels that day is itself irresponsible.

That doesn't answer my question, foilsman. Perhaps I wasn't clear.

My question was how did she keep an illegal amount of alcohol in her stomach if she had food poisoning? My experience with food poisoning is that anything I ate or drank came right back up. I can only imagine what would have happened if I tried to drink alcohol.

As for irresponsibility, the woman killed all but one of the most important eyewitnesses and left the other with no memory of the events. What are we left with but inference drawn from circumstantial evidence (which isn't quite the same as sheer "speculation")?

Also, if Diane had food poisoning, why didn't her husband know and say so?

[Fairy1]

Originally Posted by foilsman

Dear Fairy1, I think you know exactly what was in Diane's mind and heart that day..Diane was trying with all her heart and mind to get those kids back home as I am sure if you were in her place you would have been doing the same.

No, I do not. And I don't believe anyone else knows, either. Perhaps her brother. But if that's the case, my guess is, we will never know.

I will not cut Diane any breaks in this, regardless of any issues she may have had. And I do believe the responsibility of what happened is 100% on her.

Since she's dead, I don't understand the need to belabor the issue or to make someone else pay for her actions. I really just don't understand. She paid the ultimate price for her decisions that day. IMO, whatever lead to the accident is a moot point.

[SuziQ]

Diane died and killed innocent people because she was drunk. That's it.

[Melanie]

Originally Posted by Nova

I'm not challenging your opinion; I'm just asking for clarification.

How does food poisoning jive with the alcohol in her system and stomach? The last time I had food poisoning, I couldn't have kept alcohol down for days afterward.

Isn't that the truth. And when I've had a bad stomach, I've always had to have a toilet close by. I just don't see getting around her BAC levels.

MOO - thanks.

Mel

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by Nova

That doesn't answer my question, foilsman. Perhaps I wasn't clear.

My question was how did she keep an illegal amount of alcohol in her stomach if she had food poisoning? My experience with food poisoning is that anything I ate or drank came right back up. I can only imagine what would have happened if I tried to drink alcohol.

As for irresponsibility, the woman killed all but one of the most important eyewitnesses and left the other with no memory of the events. What are we left with but inference drawn from circumstantial evidence (which isn't quite the same as sheer "speculation")?

Also, if Diane had food poisoning, why didn't her husband know and say so?

Dear Nova, You are on the right track by answering your own question..you can't keep it down.
You are also right about the "circumstantial evidence". This is the blinding infuence that has enveloped this thread. Almost without a wimper the toxicology and autopsy reports have trumped all reason and sanity here..
and no I do not accept them as true because I was not there when fluid samples were taken from Diane then follow them to their lab and witness their processing and I doubt anyone who has trashed Diane and kicked Danial around here was either. I have have delt with top county employees before, once, many years ago, nothing confrontational, but it taught me that if a situation needed to be resolved stat a simple form could be produced with the decimal points in the right place and fluid samples could just as easly be munipulated for outside testing...why? because reporters were camping out in the hallways at the court house and Danial was lawyering up. This was national news and every out of work lawyer was about to decend on this court house and potentionaly expose politicians and others who were buying and selling real estate, etc., so I believe the whoever govenor's assistant made a phone call.

How would Danial know about Diane's plite unless he was there when it started to take effect or she called him?..and or why would he keep such knowledge, if he had it, to himself? I think Diane put it on her shoulders and the weight was too much because of her being handicapped by the injuries she sustained to her head.
<modsnip>

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by Fairy1

No, I do not. And I don't believe anyone else knows, either. Perhaps her brother. But if that's the case, my guess is, we will never know.

I will not cut Diane any breaks in this, regardless of any issues she may have had. And I do believe the responsibility of what happened is 100% on her.

Since she's dead, I don't understand the need to belabor the issue or to make someone else pay for her actions. I really just don't understand. She paid the ultimate price for her decisions that day. IMO, whatever lead to the accident is a moot point.

Dear Fairy1, How can you not put yourself in Diane's shoes that day and not feel
her agany and fear

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by SuziQ

Diane died and killed innocent people because she was drunk. That's it.

Dear SuzieQ, I am going to disagree with you when you make a statement
like this without backing it up with some personal inside information.

[PHB]

Hi I've never commented on this thread, because I've had nothing to add. I lived and worked in that area, I knew some of men and women who responded to this incident, and I knew mr. Bastardi from Bridge Auto Parts, in Elmsford.
If I were the husband, I would have a problem accepting the cororner's report, too. I would grasp at any straw I could, to clear my wife's name.
I hope he can find peace eventualy.
JMO

[foilsman]

Originally Posted by PHB

Hi I've never commented on this thread, because I've had nothing to add. I lived and worked in that area, I knew some of men and women who responded to this incident, and I knew mr. Bastardi from Bridge Auto Parts, in Elmsford.
If I were the husband, I would have a problem accepting the cororner's report, too. I would grasp at any straw I could, to clear my wife's name.
I hope he can find peace eventualy.
JMO

Hey PHB, I also have been waiting for some poitive resolution..I am sobbing
it is difficult to respond..cudos to the responders..and regret the loss of Mr. Bastardi.
I want to say what a beautuful sentiment you paid to Danial.

[LadyL]

Originally Posted by foilsman

Dear Nova, You are on the right track by answering your own question..you can't keep it down.
You are also right about the "circumstantial evidence". This is the blinding infuence that has enveloped this thread. Almost without a wimper the toxicology and autopsy reports have trumped all reason and sanity here..
and no I do not accept them as true because I was not there when fluid samples were taken from Diane then follow them to their lab and witness their processing and I doubt anyone who has trashed Diane and kicked Danial around here was either. I have have delt with top county employees before, once, many years ago, nothing confrontational, but it taught me that if a situation needed to be resolved stat a simple form could be produced with the decimal points in the right place and fluid samples could just as easly be munipulated for outside testing...why? because reporters were camping out in the hallways at the court house and Danial was lawyering up. This was national news and every out of work lawyer was about to decend on this court house and potentionaly expose politicians and others who were buying and selling real estate, etc., so I believe the whoever govenor's assistant made a phone call.

How would Danial know about Diane's plite unless he was there when it started to take effect or she called him?..and or why would he keep such knowledge, if he had it, to himself? I think Diane put it on her shoulders and the weight was too much because of her being handicapped by the injuries she sustained to her head.
You were clear Nova I was cryptic and did not take into account your numerious pokers in the fire.
Thats it I will no longer cut you or anyone else who post here any slack who
do not conduct themselves in a civil maner concerning Diane or Danial.

[bbm]

what injuries to her head?