http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Schuler
Timeline of accident
At approximately 9:30 AM, Diane Schuler left the Hunter Lake
Campground 41°53′27″N 74°43′52″W / 41.890841°N 74.731064°W / 41.890841; -74.731064 in
Parksville, New York with her two children and her brother's daughters, 8-year-old Emma Hance, 7-year-old Alyson Hance, and 5-year-old Kate Hance. Diane was driving the children in a red 2003
Ford Windstar and planned to stop at
McDonald's on the way home to West Babylon. Her husband Daniel Schuler left the campground at the same time in a separate vehicle; because his vehicle had commercial license plates, he could not follow Diane home on any New York state parkway.
[4][5][3] A co-owner of the campground later reported that Diane appeared to be
sober when she departed.
[6][7]
She stopped at a McDonald's restaurant
41°47′03″N 74°43′45″W / 41.784185°N 74.729218°W / 41.784185; -74.729218 located off
Route 17 in
Liberty, New York, and pumped gas at a nearby
Sunoco 41°47′10″N 74°43′45″W / 41.786033°N 74.729047°W / 41.786033; -74.729047. While at the gas station, she tried to buy
OTC pain-relief medication, but the store did not sell any.
[8][9]
Schuler left Liberty, New York just after 11am travelling along Route 17 and
Interstate 87, entering the
Ramapo service area
41°09′12″N 74°11′18″W / 41.153325°N 74.188292°W / 41.153325; -74.188292, and crossing the
Tappen Zee Bridge heading east.
[3] Witnesses later reported seeing a red minivan driving aggressively on Route 17 and Interstate 87, including aggressively tailgating, flashing headlights, honking the horn, and straddling two lanes.
[3]
At 11:37 AM, a call was made from Schuler's cell phone to Warren Hance, Diane Schuler's brother and the father of the three nieces in her car. Schuler reportedly told Hance that they were being delayed by
traffic.
[10]
At 12:08 PM, Schuler's cell phone received a call from a person who has not been identified.
At 12:58 PM, another call was made to Hance from Schuler's cell phone. During the call, Emma Hance reportedly told her father that Schuler was having trouble seeing and speaking clearly. The call was dropped after three minutes, after which Hance called back and stayed on the line for nine minutes.
[10] According to state police, Schuler told her brother that she felt disoriented and couldn't see clearly. Police believe that the car had stopped in a pull-off area beyond the Tappan Zee Bridge tollbooths during at least part of this call, based on Emma telling her father she saw signs for
Tarrytown and
Sleepy Hollow.
[11] Hance reportedly told Schuler to stay off the road while he came to meet them; follow-up calls from Hance to Schuler were not answered.
[3][10][12] A motorist later found Schuler's cell phone by the side of the road near the toll lanes of the Tappen Zee Bridge.
At 1:33pm, two drivers called
911 after noticing Schuler's van edging onto the northbound exit ramp of the Taconic State Parkway near
Briarcliff Manor, NY. Police have not yet determined Schuler's exact route between the Tappen Zee Bridge and the parkway's exit ramp. The end of the exit ramp, at the intersection with Pleasantville Road
41°08′32″N 73°48′55″W / 41.142104°N 73.815148°W / 41.142104; -73.815148, is marked with two signs reading
Do Not Enter and two
One Way signs.
[13] The exit ramp itself is unmarked.
[14] Within the next minute, four more 911 calls were placed by motorists who reported a car travelling the wrong way down the
parkway.
Schuler's van traveled south for 1.7 miles in the parkway's northbound
passing lane before colliding head-on, at approximately 1:37 PM, with a 2004
Chevrolet Trailblazer killing its driver Guy Bastardi, 49, of Yonkers, and his two passengers; his father Michael Bastardi, 81, and friend Daniel Longo, 74. In a secondary collision, the Trailblazer struck a 2002
Chevrolet Tracker; its passengers Dean and Angela Tallarico suffered minor injuries.
[3]
Diane Schuler's son Bryan Schuler and her niece Alyson Hance were the sole survivors inside Schuler's Windstar.
[15] Alyson was taken to
Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, where she was pronounced dead later that day. Bryan was taken to
Westchester Medical Center and survived his injuries.
[3]
At 1:42pm, Warren Hance--unaware of the crash minutes before--placed a call to the New York State Police while en route to find his sister's car in
Tarrytown.
[11]
