8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway #2

I finally got to see the documentary on-line a few days ago. I think it was kinda one sided. I grew up in NY and I knew a few Dianes and Daniels.
I know it was edited to the POV from the person directing the documentary and I was wondering if there was any complaints from the Schuler family about their representation? You can't say they are a "quiet" family when it comes to their opinion, so if there was nothing in the news, that means they condone the story.

In any case, this is MY take on what I saw and keep in mind this is MOO.
Daniel is an absolute momma's boy who never had to take responsibility for anything since momma did it all. He found a woman like Diane that would take charge of everything!! I mean, look at the SIL? Apparently, his brother was just like him and found a woman like Jay because she is a take charge kinda gal herself!
Daniel can NOT admit or accept the fact of what Diane did. Not to save her image as a wonderful wife, mother and aunt, but to protect his OWN image.
I don't represent everyone in the state of NY but I'll tell you what my friends and I would surmise: He knew she liked to party and they partied together. THIS is why he didn't want to have kids! He wanted to continue their carefree, no responsibility life of doing what they wanted, when they wanted it. I'm sure they stayed up before the night of the accident drinking and smoking because that's what a weekend vacation away is all about. Kicking back and getting loose. (at least, when you're carefree!) Maybe they even stayed up all night? I'm sorry but he claims he was getting things packed up at 5-6 AM? Why so early? Unless, they figured, "no going to sleep now, we'll never get up!" (I've been there, done that in my party days) In my sober days, I'd be sleeping til the kids woke ME up! I know the kids had play practice that day, but in no way did they need to start getting ready so early. "Beating the traffic" in NY is LEAVING for home at 6 AM, not leaving at 9 AM.

I think it is very telling that Diane gave up all her very close friends when she got together with Daniel. Besides having to devote her every minute to him, she isolated. She didn't want to hear her friends' negative feedback about Daniel and the way he treated her (as good friends will most certainly give, especially from NY!) Alcohol and pot became her friend. They are always there for you and will never judge.
Diane is a classic case for alcohol abuse and a part of me does feel somewhat sorry for what she may have gone through in her addiction. I'm not excusing her actions at ALL but if any of you know addiction, you know its a lonely, twisted road.

Daniel's lawsuit is a combination of his guilt and because, at least in NY, your spouse is a reflection of yourself. YOU made the choice and if your spouse is disliked (in this case hated by some now) that makes you (Daniel) look badly. He can't say he knew she had a problem because people will blame him for THAT "Why didn't you get her help? How could you let her drive with the kids in the car if you know she drinks and smokes pot?", etc..
Being the mama's boy who can never take responsibility, he is unable to say he's sorry for what happened and move on. All he can do is lash out at and blame everyone else for the tragedy. He'll probably do things like this lawsuit his whole life in the need to deflect any and all negativity towards what his wife did from himself.
IMO he is somewhat grieving for his wife but grieving the fact that now he has to do everything on his own for himself and his son and doesn't have anyone to cook for him and clean and iron for him.
Bottom line, I think he is a selfish and arrogant man and if he continues to mentally and emotionally abuse his son (as evidenced by his impatience and lack of empathy according to his own SIL) I think someone else should take care of that little boy.
Lastly, I am still haunted by the three pictures of Diane's dead body from the documentary. Don't think it was really necessary when we saw how mangled the car was.

So, have all the ladies agreed it was really the husband's fault?

(ducking)

Nova said:

So, have all the ladies agreed it was really the husband's fault?

(ducking)

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Not this lady. I don't like the way Daniel has conducted himself in the aftermath of this tragedy, but he certainly didn't cause it imo. Even if you run with the hypothesis that Diane was mad at Daniel for something or fed up with his childish behavior, it was her choice to handle it the way she did.

My overall take on Daniel in the documentary is that he is a sad shell of a man. I have never managed to catch the part of the documentary where he says he never wanted kids, but my impression of him in the rest of the documentary is that he loves his son, he looks at him with love and affection when you see them together in the documentary. Also, he's probably just being honest when he says he never wanted kids - a lot of men reluctantly take the leap into fatherhood, doesn't mean he doesn't love the kids once he has them.

Overall, the theory I am most comfortable with is that Diane was self-medicating due to some physical ailment, and she crossed the line into impairment, and ultimately into a blackout. I absolutely do not believe she intended to commit suicide and murder that day, it happened as a consequence of the horrible choices she made to drink and smoke.

That's what is so haunting about this case - if an 18 year old driver had been drinking and smoking that day and hit the Schuler van and the other cars and killed the same people, it would have been a horrible tragedy but people would have understood it a little more (NOT condoned it), it would have been caused by a young, immature person who did something incredibly stupid, and who among us didn't do stupid things when we were young (hopefully without a horrible outcome). Plain and simple, this was caused by someone who should have known better, and who apparently lived her life acting like she DID know better.

voxrock2000 said:

What if the nieces, who were a few years older, were talking about grandma over the weekend, her kids would also be curious. They would not know Diane's issues with this, it would be innocent children speaking. She could have been confronted with an obstacle she could not surmount, how to deal with her own kids asking about her mother. What would she say? She would have to come up with some explaination. It would bring it all back to her. The nieces could have been talking about some great time they had with grandma, or that they were going to see her soon, or anything about her in a positive loving way.

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That's a very interesting thought -- taking it a step further, what if Diane surmised from one of her calls to/from Warren and Jackie that her mother would be at the niece's play?

I think the content of those phone calls would go a long way toward explaining Diane's actions. Too bad we'll probably never know.

Nova said:

So, have all the ladies agreed it was really the husband's fault?

(ducking)

Click to expand...

Deelyful's analysis deserves more than a one liner. Not being a NYer, I suspected he was representing a regional culture, but couldn't put a finger on it. If it were Chicago, he would be a south sider.

What we are seeing on the doco is classic enabling....not surprising given the nature of this crime.

rpd113 said:

That's a very interesting thought -- taking it a step further, what if Diane surmised from one of her calls to/from Warren and Jackie that her mother would be at the niece's play?

I think the content of those phone calls would go a long way toward explaining Diane's actions. Too bad we'll probably never know.

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That thought did occur to me also. I mean how long could Diane's whole family indulge her personal struggles? They must have put up with it at her wedding and other family functions if her mother did have a relationship with the rest of the family. It would take some juggling to always have to work around that issue.

I have only seen the 1st half of the documentary but the medical records thing bugs me. First they look in her old date books and pick out a few entries that indicate a dr appointment. But they say she hated doctors and never went to them, so who is to say they were not appointments for the kids? They would need checkups and shots and things which I am sure she took care of. How did anyone get hold of her medical records? Laws are so strict that spouses can’t even see them, how did a movie crew get them? What it looks like they got to me was a printout of her pharmacy account from the local CVS or something, probably just an insurance form or summary of her account, nothing of substance that described actual medical conditions names of actual doctors or any actual medical diagnosis. They they had a few prescriptions sheets and bottle labels they probably found laying around the house. The most concrete thing they had was when Danny rubbed his cheek and said she used to do that. He was rubbing in the area of the upper jaw where most stressed out people get muscle pain from clenching their jaw, who doesn’t rub that spot to get rid of a headache or jaw muscle cramps, it could have just been a tick or habit. The autopsy showed no dental abcess and a blood test would have shown if she had a systemic infection from it..

How many people go to the dentist for 7 years having a tooth worked on and still have pain? Find a new dentist, oh, wait, mayber her dentist was the one supplying her with all these recreation drugs like vicodin and ambien.

rpd113 said:

I think the content of those phone calls would go a long way toward explaining Diane's actions. Too bad we'll probably never know.

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Agreed. Also, the wrong numbers and Diane's 9 minute call the night before. Those were never clarified. There was a supposed 'wrong number' dialed during the drive that went to a guy in Oyster Bay Long Island, it was in the papers and there was a quote from him who just said it was 'weird'. In those first days, there was a lot more raw information coming out, the police tapes had phone numbers on them and other information that has been redacted since. I compared the wrong number for this person (whose name was out there and simply looked it up) with the Hances home and work numbers and none of them were even close. I doubt that the kids were dialing numbers manually, they were probably hitting redial or a stored contact, so for them to have randomly dialed a number for someone who lives 10 minutes from the Schuler's is unlikely. Did anyone ever interview this guy?

Also, in the documentary Danny says he got a call to go to the hospital and that was the first he heard of anything. But on the police call, you can hear Warren Hance talking to Danny asking in a panic for information on Diane's cell phone, so he was well in the loop already. It was telling that her cell phone was in the name Hance, as well as her voicemail saying Diane Hance. This was after being with Danny for 13 years and married for '6 or 7 years'? This suggests she did not take him too seriously as a husband to say your name as Hance on your voicemail and that her loyalty was with her family and her father, whose surname name it is. In fact, it was Warren and his father who went out looking for her that day, Danny was home with his dog.

Nova said:

So, have all the ladies agreed it was really the husband's fault?

(ducking)

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LMAO, Nova.

Like you, I am fascinated at all the venom and blame heaped onto Danny. I couldn't feel worse for him and I just don't perceive him as a bad guy.

Welcome to WS, voxrock2000. While I strongly disagree that this was murder/suicide, I appreciate the amount of thought you have given to this case and I appreciate your sharing those thoughts here!

South

robinparten said:

Not this lady. I don't like the way Daniel has conducted himself in the aftermath of this tragedy, but he certainly didn't cause it imo. Even if you run with the hypothesis that Diane was mad at Daniel for something or fed up with his childish behavior, it was her choice to handle it the way she did.

My overall take on Daniel in the documentary is that he is a sad shell of a man. I have never managed to catch the part of the documentary where he says he never wanted kids, but my impression of him in the rest of the documentary is that he loves his son, he looks at him with love and affection when you see them together in the documentary. Also, he's probably just being honest when he says he never wanted kids - a lot of men reluctantly take the leap into fatherhood, doesn't mean he doesn't love the kids once he has them.

Overall, the theory I am most comfortable with is that Diane was self-medicating due to some physical ailment, and she crossed the line into impairment, and ultimately into a blackout. I absolutely do not believe she intended to commit suicide and murder that day, it happened as a consequence of the horrible choices she made to drink and smoke.

That's what is so haunting about this case - if an 18 year old driver had been drinking and smoking that day and hit the Schuler van and the other cars and killed the same people, it would have been a horrible tragedy but people would have understood it a little more (NOT condoned it), it would have been caused by a young, immature person who did something incredibly stupid, and who among us didn't do stupid things when we were young (hopefully without a horrible outcome). Plain and simple, this was caused by someone who should have known better, and who apparently lived her life acting like she DID know better.

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Great post, robinparten. I bolded your theory because it lays out what I think happened, though my jury is still out on Diane having a physical ailment. I do think she planned to have an early morning vodka drink to pick her up and calm her nerves and maybe help with a hangover. How that turned into enough vodka consumed to take away all hint of rational behavior is still beyond me?

I think she smoked the pot because she was queasy from the exorbitant amount of alcohol. By the time she hit the Taconic going in the wrong direction, I don't think she was even present anymore - full blown blackout.

I also found it interesting that Dominick Barbara appeared in this documentary after what happened between he and the Schuler's, unless it was filmed before this report. I find it also interesting that they all bad mouth Tom Ruskin, who aside from being a lying convicted felon, did state publicly that he told Daniel Schuler in April 2010 about the second set of test results, yet Daniel claims that Ruskin just “dissappeared” and that he had no idea about the results of the second set of tests.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/201..._daniel-schuler-taconic-parkway-thomas-ruskin

March 16 2011

The Nassau County district attorney is probing flamboyant lawyer Dominick Barbara for swiping $56,000 from the husband of the Taconic Parkway wrong-way driver, the Daily News has learned.

Although the high-profile attorney claimed he took the case pro bono, The News was told Barbara pocketed money due Daniel Schuler from his dead wife's $100,000 life insurance policy - plus another $10,000 Schuler gave him.

voxrock2000 said:

I find it also interesting that they all bad mouth Tom Ruskin, who aside from being a lying convicted felon, did state publicly that he told Daniel Schuler in April 2010 about the second set of test results, yet Daniel claims that Ruskin just “dissappeared” and that he had no idea about the results of the second set of tests.

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I got the feeling when watching the documentary that Jay and especially Danny chose not to follow up with Ruskin because they knew he wouldn't tell them what they wanted to hear. "He disappeared," on the other hand, makes them look like the victims and prolongs the drama.

Ruskin says he gave Dominic Barbara access to the info and tried to give it to Jay; Jay says Barbara told her not to take Ruskin's call, etc. The whole thing was crazy -- but it was pretty clear to me that Danny and Jay did not turn over every stone possible there.

Now this thing about Ruskin telling Danny the results in April 2010. I tend to believe it, based on how squirrely Danny looked when asked if he had heard from Ruskin. It would be another in a long string of inconsistencies/lies.

Nova said:

So, have all the ladies agreed it was really the husband's fault?

(ducking)

Click to expand...

geesh! That's whay u got out of all my work? LOL. I am placing no blame on Daniel for Diane's actions. None whatsoever. Anyone that gets behind the wheel of a car impaired is at fault.
I AM however not liking him for his recent lawsuit against all innocent people! It's his wife's fault and that should be the end of the story.

voxrock2000 said:

It was telling that her cell phone was in the name Hance, as well as her voicemail saying Diane Hance. This was after being with Danny for 13 years and married for '6 or 7 years'? This suggests she did not take him too seriously as a husband to say your name as Hance on your voicemail and that her loyalty was with her family and her father, whose surname name it is. In fact, it was Warren and his father who went out looking for her that day, Danny was home with his dog.

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Yeah, the whole VM thing with her maiden name was definitely a bit odd, but maybe she kept it as her work phone and never changed her name? I knew someone who did that. Definitely kinda cold, though...

robinparten said:

Overall, the theory I am most comfortable with is that Diane was self-medicating due to some physical ailment, and she crossed the line into impairment, and ultimately into a blackout. I absolutely do not believe she intended to commit suicide and murder that day, it happened as a consequence of the horrible choices she made to drink and smoke.

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I can't be convinced of any potential physical ailment. Danny right from the start has always said she was fine that morning. The mentions of the toothache came up later, once spin-doctor Dominic Barbara comes on the scene and starts inventing things. In fact, When Daniel Schuler was on Larry King and he asked about the toothache, Danny stated that Dominic Barbara 'knows more about that then me'. At the press conference Barbara brought up all these fantasy medical issues with no evidence whatsoever; the toothache, the lump on her leg that was moving, the stroke, the Anbesol theory... never mentioned in teh HBO show and ruled out during autopsy.

There is only one piece of ‘evidence’ the Schuler's hang all their explanations on. The supposed ‘fact’ that she asked for tylenol at the Sunoco station. Lets explore this for a moment. Aside from the fact that there are many stores along that stretch of road where she could have stopped aside from that gas station.

It is a fact that the police did not interview the Sunoco clerk. The raw video shows all the frames from all the cameras at once. Keep your eye on the clerk, it is clear he did not look up when she walked in, nor did he look at her when they spoke for 1/2 second. According to the timestamps on the video, she is in the store for 12 seconds. The only person who ever claimed she asked for pain medication was Tom Ruskin, who spoke to him on August 14, twenty days after the accident. I repeat, the Sunoco clerk was never interviewed by the police. There is no evidence whatsoever that she was looking for tylenol, none. Its all part of the spin. Even if she was, who is to say it wasn’t for one of the kids? It looked more like she was looking for a bathroom, not at any products on display in the store.

Page 14 of the Police Report inclues the following:

“Private Investigator Thomas Ruskin stated that he obtained a video of Diane at a gas station in Liberty. Ruskin turned over a copy of this video which was secured at the BCI Evidence Locker Item #4″

“Investigator Daniel Quinones later attempted to interview the clerk a the Sunoco. The clerk (one word blacked out) refused to speak to the State Police.”

Ruskin must have scared this guy by getting to him first. Probably said, if you knew she was reeking of booze and let her drive away with 5 kids you will be sued, or deported or whatever. Typical witness tampering tactics. Plus 20 days later you remember what a customer you didn’t even look at asked for? Conservatively this guy works 5 days a week for 10 hours a day, so thats about 200 hours, with say 20 customers per hour, thats 4,000 customers ago and you remember she asked for tylenol?

So there you have it, the only person saying she was looking for tylenol is a convicted felon hired by Schuler and his disbarred spin lawyer. Factor in the fact that Danny and Jay said she never even mentioned she had a toothache and the dental records mentioned a root canal 4 years ago and what do you have?

Also, Ruskin is the one who obtained the McDonalds video, it was never shown in public though a sinlge black and white still shot was. The statement from the McDonalds employee in the police report makes no mention of a manager getting involved, or any conversation at all. Ruskin didn't take part in the HBO documentary, a big show was made how they tried to talk to him but he wanted too much money. Was that really because he wanted money, or was it just part of the plan, keeping him out of the picture since he actually had the most damning evidence, the 2nd round of toxicology samples and they didn't want to talk about that. They didn't show other family members refusing to talk to them, why the big show with Ruskin? He would have had to explain the discrepancey between the official police interview at McDOnalds and his verison. The handwritten and signed statement from the McDonalds employee states. "I work at the McDonalds in Lberty NY. At approximately 9:52 a woman came in with 5 children...I was the register employee who hlepd her that day. The woman was very pleasant and did not seem to be ill or not well. The children were playing and she ordered for them.... The family atetheir food and then left. I did not notice anything out of the ordinary about the woman or children." Where is Tom Ruskins account of her making a fuss, calling over a manager and having an animated conversation and convincing them to make Chicken Selects for her son? It never happened, this is the official police statement and it makes no reference to anything out of the ordinary.

voxrock2000 said:

So there you have it, the only person saying she was looking for tylenol is a convicted felon hired by Schuler and his disbarred spin lawyer.

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Good catch. I never believed she wanted Tylenol, as she doesn't even bother to look for it, and speaks to the clerk extremely briefly. And could have easily gone elsewhere. The bathroom thing is a good thought.

Is it a fact that no beer/booze is sold in NYC on Sundays? I wondered if she asked about that -- but then again a New York resident probably would have known either way.

deelytful1 said:

geesh! That's whay u got out of all my work? LOL. I am placing no blame on Daniel for Diane's actions. None whatsoever. Anyone that gets behind the wheel of a car impaired is at fault.
I AM however not liking him for his recent lawsuit against all innocent people! It's his wife's fault and that should be the end of the story.

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Sorry, deelytful, I was just joking and didn't think how that post might seem a pointed reference to you personally. I swear I didn't mean it that way.

I know you've really done your homework on this case. You make that obvious with every post.

twinkiesmom said:

Deelyful's analysis deserves more than a one liner. Not being a NYer, I suspected he was representing a regional culture, but couldn't put a finger on it. If it were Chicago, he would be a south sider.

What we are seeing on the doco is classic enabling....not surprising given the nature of this crime.

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BBM: you are absolutely right. I thought I might get credit for having responded more carefully to her previous posts, but I see my error now. Thanks for speaking up about it.

(ETA: this post seems like one that can be read as literal or sarcastic. I mean it literally.)

voxrock2000 said:

That thought did occur to me also. I mean how long could Diane's whole family indulge her personal struggles? They must have put up with it at her wedding and other family functions if her mother did have a relationship with the rest of the family. It would take some juggling to always have to work around that issue.

I have only seen the 1st half of the documentary but the medical records thing bugs me. First they look in her old date books and pick out a few entries that indicate a dr appointment. But they say she hated doctors and never went to them, so who is to say they were not appointments for the kids? They would need checkups and shots and things which I am sure she took care of. How did anyone get hold of her medical records? Laws are so strict that spouses can’t even see them, how did a movie crew get them? What it looks like they got to me was a printout of her pharmacy account from the local CVS or something, probably just an insurance form or summary of her account, nothing of substance that described actual medical conditions names of actual doctors or any actual medical diagnosis. They they had a few prescriptions sheets and bottle labels they probably found laying around the house. The most concrete thing they had was when Danny rubbed his cheek and said she used to do that. He was rubbing in the area of the upper jaw where most stressed out people get muscle pain from clenching their jaw, who doesn’t rub that spot to get rid of a headache or jaw muscle cramps, it could have just been a tick or habit. The autopsy showed no dental abcess and a blood test would have shown if she had a systemic infection from it..

How many people go to the dentist for 7 years having a tooth worked on and still have pain? Find a new dentist, oh, wait, mayber her dentist was the one supplying her with all these recreation drugs like vicodin and ambien.

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Actually, I have a friend who spent at least 7 years in constant tooth pain. More than one dentist told her he couldn't see a problem in the x-rays. She finally just demanded that they remove the crown on the tooth and rebuild for a new crown. That has seemed to work. She still doesn't know what the problem was.

I haven't lived in New York for a long time and don't know the laws. But in California, at least, drugs like vicodin and xanax are "controlled substances." Unless you find somebody really shady (Michael Jackson's doctor, for example), you have to see a doctor from time to time to get refills.

I think the remark that Diane "never" went to the doctor was an exaggeration.

Are we sure they looked for a dental abscess during the autopsy? I honestly don't know, but I doubt an autopsy covers every possible ailment. Unless somebody told the coroner to look for dental problems, I wonder if he would have looked. It may well be that nobody thought to mention Diane's dental pain until after they were surprised by her BAC.

deelytful1 said:

Yeah, the whole VM thing with her maiden name was definitely a bit odd, but maybe she kept it as her work phone and never changed her name? I knew someone who did that. Definitely kinda cold, though...

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What century is this? I know lots of professional women who don't change their names when they marry.