Taconic crash driver Diane Schuler's husband wants exhumation prove illness played role in wreck

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

(It was reported yesterday that the family of the men that were in the SUV want to sue the Schuler family for allowing Diane to drive drunk)

BY MATTHEW LYSIAK, HENRICK KAROLISZYN AND SAMUEL GOLDSMITH
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Thursday, August 6th 2009, 4:00 AM

The husband of Taconic death driver Diane Schuler wants his wife's body exhumed for an independent autopsy today, a source close to the family told the Daily News.

A desperate Daniel Schuler will announce today he doesn't believe investigators' claims that his wife was in perfect health during the 90-mile hellride, the source said.

He blames diabetes, a tooth abscess or possibly a stroke for the reckless behavior that left eight people dead and three families in mourning.
State police say they know what caused the crash: Schuler drank the equivalent of at least 10 shots of booze and smoked marijuana while driving five kids home to Long Island.

snip
He contends she drank "maybe two pina coladas a year" and that the only way to explain the drinking and drugging is that she wasn't in her right mind.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/06/2009-08-06_husband_will_ask_to_exhume_wifes_body_in_disbelief_of_drug_find_vics_families_se.html#

[Becky72]

1. I find it strange that witnesses said she wasn't swerving in her lane

Yes, she entered an exit instead of an entrance, but...how many times do drunk drivers do that? and, if she did...wouldn't a drunken driver swerve within his/her lane?

[hobbit709]

2. Not necessarily

Not all drunk drivers swerve.

[mwb970]

3. Other witnesses said she was swerving, straddling lanes, etc.

This was mentioned in yesterday's NY Times. I don't think we have all the relevant info yet.

[wininboy]

7. No, she was swerving BEFORE she got on the highway

but once she was on the highway, she drove fine (notwithstanding the whole going the wrong way thing)

Very, very odd

[mwb970]

17. You're right.

I saw the updated info today. The whole thing is a mystery!

[LisaL]

4. Never have I heard of diabetis making someone drink

alcohol or smoke pot.

[xultar]

5. It can make you drunker quicker though.

[LisaL]

6. With the blood alcohol level reported for this woman,

what difference does it make?

[wininboy]

8. Diabetes can cause behavioral changes

Low blood sugar can make a diabetic "drunk". It also makes them depressed, anxious, and otherwise uncomfortable. Eating carbs provides them with relief and therefore is very pleasurable for them. When my diabetic (and demented) moms' sugar began to get low, she would crave carb-rich foods. She was like an addict for sweets. You could watch her mood change.

I can see how the pleasure that results when a hypoglucemic (sp?) diabetic ingests carbs could lead one to drink more than usual.

[LisaL]

11. What does craving of carbs has to do with alcohol?

Vodka doesn't have carbs.

[wininboy]

14. I screwed up

It turns out that alcohol doesn't raise blood sugar, it lowers them. While that blows the WHY she was drinking explanation I gave, the lowered blood sugar caused by her alcohol intake could explain her behavior.

Thanks for the correction

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. i think he is refusing to believe that she was drunk and high on pot and looking for

other possibilities. On local NY news, one of the spokespersons for the family said she had suffered from gestational diabetes in her last pregnancy...not that she was diabetic now.

The story starts out that the family had been camping in the Catskill Mountains and she was returning home. She and her husband took separate cars so she could take the kids out for breakfast. That was at 9:30AM. If we assume that she did have breakfast, and if she was diabetic, it couldn't have been for a lack of food.

This whole story is so weird to me. Why did she and husband use separate vehicles. Why, when she wasn't feeling well, did she call her brother and not her husband? Why did she leave her cellphone at a rest stop? And how, in BROAD DAYLIGHT on the Taconic Parkway (which is near where I live), can she not know she is driving in the wrong direction? This is not an empty parkway on a Sunday afternoon. There is also ample room on the side of the parkway for her to pull over and turn around.

I'm really fascinated with this tragedy because it's mind boggling.

[BeyondGeography]

9. The New York Post is on the case: Marriage was on the rocks and she was boozing solo regularly

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08062009/news/regionalnews/wed_woes_drove_crash_ma_to_drink_183240.htm

Sorry, Mr. Schuler, this is the one kind of story they tend to be good at.

[NashVegas]

12. If That's the Case, It's Entirely Possible They Were Unaware

All of the survivors are facing tragedy. Seems pathetic to sue someone for something that was outside of their control, which it very well might have been.

[BeyondGeography]

15. Creative lawyering

There's no stopping them. Probably going after whatever insurance money is on the table.

[NashVegas]

16. Aye

I feel for the families of the people in the other vehicle, and have no trouble understanding their anger and desire for revenge against someone they have no ability to confront, but it's so wrong to take it out on other survivors whose losses are just as great.

[WI_DEM]

13. well then, of course the ten shots and smoking pot had nothing to do with it...

but I guess it doesn't hurt to have an independent autopsy rule everything else out. She knew she was having problems, too, because she called her brother but something impeared her judgement.