Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of death. Reader discretion is advised.
In July 2009, while returning from a camping trip, a woman named Diane Schuler died after crashing her minivan into a sport utility vehicle. However, Schuler wasn’t the only one who died in the tragic accident. Reports indicate that eight people died in that accident, including Schuler’s daughter and three nieces. The unfortunate accident case has been featured in the 2011 documentary There’s Something Wrong With Diane, which explores what happened that day.
Diane Schuler was reportedly driving home from a camping trip. A few moments later, she began moving in the opposite direction on the Taconic Parkway in Westchester County. According to The New York Times, Schuler was accompanied by her two children and three nieces in the vehicle. The publication also mentioned that Schuler crashed her van into a sports utility vehicle. The tragic accident killed eight people, including three men in the SUV. The only person to survive the accident was Schuler’s son, Bryan.
After the accident, authorities sent Diane Schuler’s body for autopsy to get more details. Meanwhile, the investigators found Schuler’s phone and began analyzing it to see who she called before the accident. As per The New York Times, the accident case gained nationwide attention, and over 1000 people came to attend the funeral of the victims.
What did Diane Schuler’s autopsy report reveal about the Taconic State Parkway Crash?
The toxicology results of Diane Schuler’s autopsy showed that the woman behind the steering wheel had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent. Citing the toxicology report, The New York Times also stated that she had almost six grams of alcohol in her stomach. The reports also revealed that the medical examiner found significant levels of marijuana-related chemicals in her body. Later, the report mentioned she had 113 nanograms per milliliter of tetrahydrocannabinol in her body.
The autopsy report also confirmed that Diane Schuler had no heart or brain problems. However, it also indicated that the driver had alcohol in her brain and urine, per NBC New York. According to a forensic expert, Schuler must have had difficulty with her judgment because of alcohol. The expert said, “She would have had difficulty with her perception, with her judgment, with her memory. Around that level of alcohol, you also start to get what’s called tunnel vision, where your perception is changed so you can’t see peripherally all the time.”
NBC New York reported that Schuler’s husband, Daniel, hired a private investigator to check the autopsy. The private investigator claimed that the autopsy didn’t reveal any signs of cirrhosis. This meant that Diane Schuler wasn’t an alcoholic. Her family also refuted the allegations of substance abuse. Additionally, people who knew her also denied such claims.
No criminal charges in Taconic Parkway car crash
The lawyer for two of the men killed in the accident noted that people denying reality is “painful to my clients.” The attorney said, “The lengths these people are taking to deny reality are just astounding and painful to my clients. Diane Schuler was drunk and high when she killed all these people and the facts aren’t going to change.”
After the autopsy report became public, the police announced that it had now become a homicide case. However, a couple of weeks later, the authorities announced that there would be no criminal charges in the case. Citing the investigators, The New York Times noted that they would have criminally charged Diane Schuler if she was alive. The investigators said, “Diane Schuler, as you know, died in the crash, and the charges died with her.”
The HBO documentary There’s Something Wrong With Diane is available to stream on Max.
