NY - 8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway #3

[MsFacetious]

Interesting......................makes me wonder, ponder the little boy's statement as per Jay that he "flew thru the air like Superman". Unless I am taking it to literally..........but I would think he would say that the van flew thru the air....or WE flew thru the air...........sorry !!!! Just keeping the convo going !!!!!

How old was the boy and how was he restrained?
If he was in a seatbelt and was too small for it, he could have easily been ejected even if he was buckled.

 

[Sheenaisapunkrocker]

How old was the boy and how was he restrained?
If he was in a seatbelt and was too small for it, he could have easily been ejected even if he was buckled.

He was five years old. That's a definite possibility.

 

[nrdsb4]

It's my understanding that Bryan was not ejected from the van, but was found inside it in the back.

 

[MsFacetious]

It's my understanding that Bryan was not ejected from the van, but was found inside it in the back.

Oh okay, so the "flying through the air" did not mean him personally, but the van itself. Okay, I have not immersed myself in this as I normally do in cases. This one is just too close to home and I can't do it. If he wasn't ejected then obviously that doesn't apply.

 

[nrdsb4]

Well, the child had serious injuries, including head injuries. I don't think his statements can be taken as fact at all. He was only five, was in a really traumatic accident, received potentially mind altering medications after the accident, and may have no clear memories at all of the incident prior to waking up and talking about it with family members.

 

[MsFacetious]

Well, the child had serious injuries, including head injuries. I don't think his statements can be taken as fact at all. He was only five, was in a really traumatic accident, received potentially mind altering medications after the accident, and may have no clear memories at all of the incident prior to waking up and talking about it with family members.

Like I said I haven't read the entire thread because it's too close to home for me, so I don't know. I just responded to a post with the knowledge I had which I hadn't seen mentioned recently. That all makes sense.

 

[Only4Justice]

I finally had the opportunity to watch the HBO show, Something is Wrong With Aunt Diane”.

It was very well done.

I felt so bad for ALL of the people left behind, even Danny. I’ve seen him take some flack here and I don’t agree.

He and especially Bryan are victims.

My mind can’t go to the Hances. Their grief and anger IMO must be deep and very painful. Those little girls were precious.

I still believe, as I have from the beginning, that Diane was an alcoholic. IMO. Easiest explanation. Occams Razor.

Prayers to the families.

 

[Fairy1]

It hurts my heart every time I see this thread bumped up.

IMO, we will never, ever know what happened or why. IDK if there IS a reason why. When I watched the documentary and saw Diane's dead body, that was the end for me. IDK how anyone else could be held responsible for what happened that day. IMO, the person responsible is dead and gone from this earth. We can speculate until the sun rises in the west, but we still will never know what was in Diane's heart or mind that day.

My heart goes out to all who were killed and to all of those left behind.

 

[Sheenaisapunkrocker]

I finally had the opportunity to watch the HBO show, Something is Wrong With Aunt Diane”.

It was very well done.

I felt so bad for ALL of the people left behind, even Danny. I’ve seen him take some flack here and I don’t agree.

He and especially Bryan are victims.

My mind can’t go to the Hances. Their grief and anger IMO must be deep and very painful. Those little girls were precious.

I still believe, as I have from the beginning, that Diane was an alcoholic. IMO. Easiest explanation. Occams Razor.

Prayers to the families.

Jackie Hance wrote a book "I'll See You Again" and it's a good read. My heart breaks for her and her husband.
Danny has got a lot of criticism and some of it is deserved, some of it not, IMO. He should not have sued the Hances. He can't, or won't let go of the paradigm that his wife was perfect.

 

[Only4Justice]

I had forgotten he sued the Hances! Why? Did he have to do it to protect Bryan?

I wonder how the Hances are doing. I know they had a baby girl a few years ago.

 

[Sheenaisapunkrocker]

I had forgotten he sued the Hances! Why? Did he have to do it to protect Bryan?

I wonder how the Hances are doing. I know they had a baby girl a few years ago.

He sued the Hances because Diane was driving their van, plus he sued NY State for their highway being "unsafe" (paraphrasing here). The Bastardis also sued the Hances because it was their van and it was probably to get their insurance co involved.
The misery never seemed to end in this story.

 

[Kentucky38]

I’ve smoked before a long drive and brought a joint for the ride before (not saying that it’s ok).

Has anyone thought maybe she just got really thirsty, grabbed some premixed drinks that had been packed into the car like Gatorade not realizing they had alcohol in them and chugged them while driving to get rid of cotton mouth?

I personally hate the taste of alcohol and drinks like gatorade and Powerade can mask alcohol really well so if she’s high she may not have had any idea the alcohol was in there. If she had mouth pain she could’ve smoked quite a bit to help ease it.

Also just because she didn’t have a tooth abscess doesn’t mean we have to jump to an out there conclusion about what was causing the pain. She could’ve THOUGHT that’s what it was, but in reality could’ve just ground her teeth at night which can be brought on by stress and had jaw pain (trust me it hurts).

I haven’t read all 12 pages so this theory could have already been thrown out there

 

[TristanP]

I’ve smoked before a long drive and brought a joint for the ride before (not saying that it’s ok).

Has anyone thought maybe she just got really thirsty, grabbed some premixed drinks that had been packed into the car like Gatorade not realizing they had alcohol in them and chugged them while driving to get rid of cotton mouth?

I personally hate the taste of alcohol and drinks like gatorade and Powerade can mask alcohol really well so if she’s high she may not have had any idea the alcohol was in there. If she had mouth pain she could’ve smoked quite a bit to help ease it.

Also just because she didn’t have a tooth abscess doesn’t mean we have to jump to an out there conclusion about what was causing the pain. She could’ve THOUGHT that’s what it was, but in reality could’ve just ground her teeth at night which can be brought on by stress and had jaw pain (trust me it hurts).

I haven’t read all 12 pages so this theory could have already been thrown out there

There was a large vodka bottle found in the van. IIRC the alcohol found in her stomach was pure alcohol, not alcohol mixed with something else. A lot of people have speculated she bought orange juice at McDonalds to mix it with the vodka. (The OJ purchase may have been a fact, and the mixer part speculation, I’m not certain.)

Supposedly the alcohol was something they kept with the camping supplies, to drink when they were at the campground, so there’s really no explanation as to why Diane had it in the minivan with her. It was her brother’s minivan so she definitely had to have brought it with her on purpose.

In the past I have speculated and wondered if she could have taken an Ambien the night before and had some kind of bizarre reaction causing her actions the next day. It’s all so inexplicable.

 

[Jmoose]

He sued the Hances because Diane was driving their van, plus he sued NY State for their highway being "unsafe" (paraphrasing here). The Bastardis also sued the Hances because it was their van and it was probably to get their insurance co involved.
The misery never seemed to end in this story.

Jackie Hance wrote a book "I'll See You Again" and it's a good read. My heart breaks for her and her husband.
Danny has got a lot of criticism and some of it is deserved, some of it not, IMO. He should not have sued the Hances. He can't, or won't let go of the paradigm that his wife was perfect.

Everybody sues; in a case like this, you sort of have to. It is all to have the insurance companies do their subrogation; for example, if Diane’s insurance covers her when she drives another person’s car, her insurer requires that the other person’s car insurance carrier is sued. It’s bizarre to me how insurance works. My daughter was hit by a car when she was crossing the street on foot (by a car turning onto the street-daughter didn’t walk in front of car). Our health insurance required us to provide our car insurance policy info, even though our car had nothing to do with the accident and was 5 hours away from the site, and she was a pedestrian. It’s just how they do it. As far as the Bastardi family goes, well, that is much more straightforward and understandable.

 

[mtnlites]

So I have now watched all the television programs about this case, read the Hance's book, and tried to find all the articles that I could before I drew any conclusions. And, honestly? I just don't know.

On the one hand you have this woman whose mother left her when she was 9, left her to raise her own sibling, more or less.Then she marries and he pretty much becomes her 4th child (as per his own parents). She was a perfectionist, everyone said so. Her children were always perfect, her job was good, she was the breadwinner. And her family even made jokes about how she rarely slept and would stay up all night scrapbooking. I can see where, when looking at all of this information and what happened, it could've been a recipe for something bad. One of my thoughts is that the pressure finally got to her and she suffered a psychotic break.

Considering the huge amount of THC in her system, I've also considered that maybe she got ahold of some edibles and wasn't able to accurately predict the strongness of them.She had way more THC than she'd have gotten if she'd only just smoked a joint. From personal experience, I can say that edibles affect me in a different way than smoking does. If she started getting a lot of anxiety and then took some drinks of Vodka to kind of even herself out, she may have suffered a bad reaction.

But then...the way she appeared so transfixed and deliberate by the other motorists...and the fact that the children weren't buckled in or in child seats? (The youngest should've been in a booster, but at the very least they should've been in seatbelts.) The way she wouldn't wait for her brother and how she left her phone on the pull off on the Tapan Zee Bridge? Maybe it WAS a murder/suicide. Look what the Harts did.

It's very easy to paint someone as a saint once they're dead and I'm afraid that her family is doing this to their own detriment. Nobody is perfect, everyone's flawed, and their refusal to entertain any other idea other than this being a medical emergency is probably taking a toll on their own mental health. They can still love her, still cherish memories of her, while recognizing that she MAY have had problems that were never dealt with.

 

[Jmoose]

Sounds to me like her family is to blame, if she cracked under the pressure of all of her responsibilities. If my husband was as big a baby as Danny, I would have whipped him into shape or told him to get out-but I don’t have the baggage she had with my parents, because my family was intact growing up. I am not saying she wasn’t responsible for the tragedy, but I really think her family (families) drove her insane, starting from the age of 9, and was the catalyst for what happened that day.

 

[hot cawfeee]

HBO is running this doc again and of course I watched. This struck me....what about car seats ? That's a lot of car seats for the kids...there would have been at least two ...for Erin and for Bryan......I don't know why I am bringing this up...………..I still teared up when the man teared up describing the kids...…..

 

[Marple]

I realize I am resurrecting a very old thread here...but for some reason, I have been thinking a lot about this case lately. The more I think about it, the more I think that it was, indeed, a murder-suicide. I don't know why she made sure she killed her nieces, but I am guessing she had some real resentment (real or imagined) towards Warren. I do NOT believe he abused his daughters in any way.

Here's what swayed me:

1) After they left McDonald's. the kids were not strapped in. I don't quite understand why the older Hanse girls wouldn't have strapped themselves in, but they weren't.
2) She was not an alcoholic and she was not really even a drinker, as far as anyone knows. Sure, she could have hidden it, but when? She worked full time and then took care of kids, then took care of her husband, lather, rinse, repeat. I don't think she could have pulled it off for long. She was forcing herself to drink to get up the courage to do what she did.
3) She hung up on her brother and left the phone intentionally on the side of the road.
4) If she didn't intentionally kill the nieces, then something happened that morning at the campground. She likely had been thinking about it for awhile, but then decided THAT DAY was the day, and Kate, Alyson and Emma were just collateral damage.
Anyway, just wanted to say all of that!

 

[Marple]

Just watched the HBO documentary and read the police report posted here. The children were in seatbelts and one of the children was in a car seat, according to statements given by people who arrived immediately at the scene and rendered aid. This is in the police report.

Such a horrible accident. IMO, she was a binge drinker and had a blackout while driving.

I can only imagine how awful this is for the families.

 

[hot cawfeee]

I agree with you Marple. Her tox is chilling...….pot and alcohol. I wonder what Danny's tox would be ? IMO he knew about the pot and drinking...if anything it happened when they were together at the campsite...….wonder if anything more will come out now since much time has passed ?