By Jim Fitzgerald, Associated Press Writer
A man who died in the wrong-way crash that killed eight people on a New York highway survived the impact and suffered at least briefly from pain and from the knowledge he was about to die, a lawyer claims.
Brian Sichol, who represents the family of father-and-son victims Michael and Guy Bastardi, made the assertion as he prepared a lawsuit against the estate of Diane Schuler, the Long Island woman who caused the crash.
The lawsuit, expected within weeks, will be the first court action in the mystifying, horrific crash that occurred when an apparently intoxicated Schuler drove a minivan packed with kids against high-speed highway traffic for 1.7 miles on July 26.
Two flower arrangements mark the spot of a fiery crash on the Taconic State Parkway near Mt. Pleasant, N.Y.. Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009, where a minivan driven by Diane Schuler, 36, came to rest after entering southbound in the northbound lanes on Sunday, July 26, 1.7 miles north of this median. The van burst into flames as her vehicle collided with two northbound vehicles, killing eight. The crash killed Schuler, her daughter, Erin 2, and Schuler's nieces, Emma Hance, 9, Alison Hance, 7, and Kate Hance, 5. Killed in a second vehicle were Guy Bastardi, 49; his father, Michael Bastardi, 81; and a friend, Daniel Longo, 74, all of Yonkers, N.Y. The lone survivor of the crash was Schuler's 5-year-old son, Brian. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
The resulting collision north of New York City killed Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter, three young nieces, the Bastardis and their friend Daniel Longo, 74. Schuler’s 5-year-old son, Bryan, survived.
Sichol said that to sue for pain and suffering, “You have to have some proof that someone survived, even briefly. Then you have suffering, horror and the anticipation of death.”
He said Tuesday a witness could testify that at least one of the Bastardis “was not deceased” at some point after the wreck.
Michael Bastardi Jr., whose 81-year-old father and 49-year-old brother were killed, said the idea that one or both of them survived left him “absolutely heartbroken.”
“It’s extremely hard,” he said. “I try not to visualize it.”
No criminal charges were filed because Diane Schuler was responsible for the crash “and the charges died with her,” a prosecutor said.
Some members of the Bastardi family suggested that Schuler’s husband, Daniel, might also be to blame.
But Sichol said the lawsuit would name only Diane Schuler’s estate and her brother, Warren Hance, the owner of the minivan she was driving.
Hance’s attorney did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. David Smith, a lawyer for Daniel Schuler, said he had seen no evidence to support that the Bastardis survived.
Sichol said a civil suit, even if it goes to trial, is “not likely to answer everyone’s questions, the real question of why, what set her off that day.”
The mystery of how Schuler could race against highway traffic with a cargo of frightened kids baffled the nation. Her husband’s continuing refusal to accept that she was drunk led to TV appearances with Oprah Winfrey, Larry King and others.
Schuler acknowledged that his wife drank at least socially and her sister-in-law told police she smoked marijuana regularly. A broken 1.75-liter Absolut vodka bottle was found in the wreck.
But Schuler, lawyer Dominic Barbara, and investigator Tom Ruskin have repeatedly suggested that Diane Schuler’s erratic behavior was caused by something other than intoxication, despite an autopsy finding that the alcohol content in her blood was 0.19 percent, about 2½ times the legal limit.
They suggested a blood clot, a stroke and her use of Anbesol. Barbara said the sugar in her blood could have been boiled into alcohol in the car wreck.
The Schuler team also seized on witness statements that indicated Schuler was fine when she and her husband left an upstate campground that morning in separate vehicles. Ruskin contends Schuler’s demand for an item off the lunch menu for her son during breakfast at McDonald’s proved she hadn’t been drinking.
Michael Bastardi Jr. said all the “excuses” from the Daniel Schuler team “keeps the agony going for our family. Honestly, I cannot wait to get them in civil court. We’re going to depose them all and get them under oath.”
Barbara said in September that Diane Schuler’s body would be exhumed, but Ruskin said last week that may not be necessary. First they will try to confirm that the remains tested by the medical examiner were Schuler’s, he said.
Sichol said none of that is relevant to the lawsuit.
“I think an intoxicated person can order at McDonald’s, but it really doesn’t matter,” Sichol said. It doesn’t help him. That was three or four hours before the crash. She had more than ample time to consume the alcohol that we know she did and to smoke the marijuana that we know she did. We know she was driving the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway for two miles that afternoon and we know she had a point-one-nine.”
Also known — from 911 calls and witness statements taken by police — that other drivers saw a woman driving aggressively and ignoring honked warnings that she was going the wrong way. Many told of having to steer out of her way as she barreled south in the northbound passing lane.
“The driver didn’t appear to have a clue they were going the wrong way,” one witness said.
Lawyers for Longo’s family did not immediately return phone calls, but their investigator, Michael Archer, said no lawsuit was imminent.
Meanwhile, 5-year-old Bryan Schuler, the lone survivor from the minivan, has recovered enough from his head injury and broken bones to return to school, Ruskin said. “He knows his mother is dead and his father is trying to get him through this.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Was it was the husband having the affair or her? There was a wrong number dialed from her phone to a guy in Oyster Bay, only 10 minutes from where she works that morning. How coincidental that a random wrong number would go so close to home. Maybe the kids had the phone and accidently dialed a contact or recent call? She was left to her own devices when he was at work. Anyway, i think it was the kids who called their father, not her, and then the truth came out.
I read the story in NY Magazine that said how Diane Schuler cut her mother out of her life completely since the age of 9, pretending she did not exist due to her leaving the family, even though the other siblings and her father did not and her mother reached out to her for a relationship, stating it was her choice to keep her away. That is a huge thing to hold inside for 27 years. I do think this is the elemental key to the whole story. The public photos released of her wedding are telling, how could she, or anyone there, not be thinking about her mother, who was not invited. How do you go through your wedding day holding that inside? Since it was her wedding day, everyone had to suck it up and it was all about her and not mentioning the obvious absence, the rest of the family would have invited her to such an event. Then having children and depriving them of their grandmother, and vice-versa. This pattern of controlling social situations and punishing people who love you most due to perceived transgressions only makes me believe the murder/suicide theory. Did she punish her husband and brother for something we will never know about? I think everyone needs closure on this case, I am on the side of the victims who feel there is much more to the story.
Or the husband confronted her about this other guy and it blew up? He went camping thursday morning, she came up friday night with all the kids. What happened Thursday night?
Tom says: “Has anyone checked the husbands background, like girlfriends she might have found out about and left the camp grounds upset with a plan? He’s no angel from what I have heard.”
One outlandish theory suggested he may have been having an affair with his sister-in-law (or his wife thought so) and that’s why she killed her nieces – I don’t like hearing that or accusing anyone, but this had to be suicide and it’s hard to think why she’d take her nieces, though parents kill their own kids often enough to “get back at a spouse”. I’m curious what happened to the “Sheila” (her alleged drinking partner) who said Diane said her marriage was on the rocks – seems there would have been other witnesses from that bar who would have seen her there.
Sheila’s comment here about the Hance’s not being forthright makes sense. I’ve heard no comments from him saying he wish he’d have told the cops she was really out of it/may have been drunk when she was slurring (my first thought when hearing slurred speech is drinking). There is a trooper station less than a mile from the TZ tollbooth and a heavier warning may have sent them out (I agree that cops would likely look for a sick person at a rest area instead of one traveling down the road). Bad story – only comfort is knowing that it’s such a rare incident – there’s not much the law can do to stop suicide by auto – certainly not stricter drunk driving laws (though those never hurt).
Has anyone checked the husbands background, like girlfriends she might have found out about and left the camp grounds upset with a plan? He’s no angel from what I have heard.
PeteF has it right – more knowledge than me and I’d scoped it out. Didn’t know she turned around after seeing a spot to crash. I “google mapped” the Taconic, got on “street view”, and saw she came over a hill just before the crash – that’s why the crash happened there – the road had curves from the Pleasantville Road exit, but it was flat enough for people to see her coming/get out of the way. Now they say speed was an issue – I’d always wondered how fast she was going (if slow like sick/disoriented, or fast like in control/on “a mission”). If combined speeds are 100 mph, cars will close 1/4 mi in 9 seconds – not enough time to react if some crazy person is cresting a hill – and they were each probably doing 60-70 (if they say speed was an issue).
But it wasn’t the speed that killed them. This was intentional. —— from The Intentional Traffic Crash: “The intentional traffic accident is probably the most common means of suicide that is typically misclassified. Unless the person has left a suicide note, it is not obvious from the physical evidence that the crash is anything other than an accident. This is especially true because it is not uncommon for such drivers to be drunk at the time of these “accidents”… Head-on car-truck accidents should also be analyzed as possible suicides when it appears that the lone [not in this case] driver was in the wrong lane and should have seen the truck coming. “
Horrible story. Still think it was intentional on Schuler’s part, though have no idea why – she was showing no signs of weaving so she could see and control the car fine (initially, cops said this indicated she was not under the influence of alcohol/drugs). Wonder if Brian remembers them screaming for mommy to stop because she was going the wrong way. This chick was very unbalanced and likely extremely angry about something – hubby would know – very odd that she called her brother from the TZ toll area and not him when she was “sick”.
No matter what, I don’t think that going after the Schuler’s estate is justified. Bastardi family does not think of the little boy, the survivor. They want to take the Schuler man to the cleaner — S. family is not rich. The child will be left with nothing. So yes, the Bastardi family lost my sympathy. I’m sorry for their loss, but I believe this is more about money than loss.
I am afraid the Hance’s are not telling the whole story about the phone calls with Diane. Both of them talked to her, but I really think it was the kids that called 1st, then Warren called back and got her on the phone. The content of this call is the key to her mindset. I really doubt she said she wasn’t feeling well and had tunnel vision, etc…if she was slurring and calling Warren Danny, she was out of it and not going to be describing her symtpoms like that. I think they are putting words in her mouth. What was said that made her get out of the van and put the phone on the divider? What made her drive away in the opposite direction they would have thought she was going in to look for her. I agree with the above, that she hung up on Warren, left the phone and took off in the opposite direction fully aware of what she was doing. Why didn’t he call the police right away? He drove all the way to Westchester looking for her and stopping at the police station. It was Jackie who called the police from home after Warren left. In the police calls when they were looking for her, they never mention the vision, or confusion problems, he only describes it a possible medical emergency. The cops were probably looking for someone stopped by the side of the road when they should have put out an APB for a crazy confused driver menacing the population of the roads.
Sadly, the public obsession with this case will not go away until Warren, Jackie, and Danny tell the truth. Why are they protecting her when it is so clear the truth is being hidden,
The more i read about this case, the clearer it gets. She argued with them at McDonalds to get her kids their last favorite meal and let them play in the playground there since she was gearing up for murder/suicide. It was premeditated, she fed the kids, got her OJ mixer to go, and peeled out of that gas station with a death wish, she drove like a maniac until she was numb enough to not care. She must have told her brother and sister in law something in those phone calls that sealed her fate, she left the phone and with it all hope of being stopped or saved, she drove up the Saw Mill to the Taconic, turned around and came back to end it all. She was not confused, she was building up her nerve. The phone probably got dumped because the kids kept calling home and interferring with her death wish plan, as soon as she knew they were coming to look for her, as soon as the kids said what the road signs said, she went in the opposite direction, north, up the Saw Mill so they would be looking in the wrong place. She was not confused, she was still making premediated decisions to carry out the plan. Then she told her brother she was on Southern State Parkway on Long Island, come on, no matter how drunk you are you can tell the difference between the 2 mile long Tappan Zee toll bridge soaring over the Hudson and Southern State pkwy. She had gone through the toll literally 30 seconds before making the call. She didn’t crash into the toll booth and was able to pull over to the pull off on the right shoulder. The 4 or 5 right hand toll lanes there are all cash only, since they claim they checked the time on her ezpass, that means she probably went through tolls on the left and had to navigate across at least 5 lanes of toll plaza traffic to the pull off without hitting anything.
On page 10 of the police report, a witness describes travelling north on the Taconic at 1:15 pm and being cut off by the minivan ALSO TRAVELLING NORTH getting on the Taconic from the Saw Mill Parkway. This is right where the crash happened, about 200 yards north of the Saw Mill/Taconic merge. This means she went up the Taconic past the crash site, then turned around and got back on the same exit ramp in the wrong direction. She scouted the route! Probably saw a perfect spot to end it all and headed back down the road heading south knowing what was going to happen and where, there is a blind curve with a hill right at the crash site, no chance for the unwitting accessory to the crime to react evasively. There are two (2) turnarounds in that stretch of road, plus a lot of wide grass median and shoulder to change your mind if you wanted to.
This is not the ‘mommy’s a secret addict’ story like the media has jumped on the bandwagon with to no end, she was uniquely crazy and suicidal and had to know what she was doing. Those people know what happened and have been protecting themselves since the brother first called the police and sugar-coated the situation as ‘a possible medical emergency’ and the husband only can say ’she was sober when she left..” not my fault. CYA.
Also, the husbands story about the vodka being his is total BS. He drinks beer, very few men drink vodka as their drink of choice, especially when they are beer drinkers. Vodka is a chick drink.