And she tried to hide all this anger by smoking pot and drinking in secret. Did he just refuse to say what was said, or was he cagey or obviously lying or what? Plus, as the documentary unfolds, we're given more and more insights into the personal problems that may have led her to Diane's final destructive act. Danny Schuler is every bit as much of a douchebag as he appears to be; he brought up some absurd lawsuits against his brother-in-law (because it was his vehicle that the blotto Diane was driving) and the county (he thought ineffectual road signs contributed to the drunk/stoned Diana's predicament) , but I don't think he prevailed in them, at least I hope he didn't. After watching, I poked around Reddit and was shocked to see that the general consensus seems to be that she over-medicated and went into an incoherent state leading to the crash. If this is true, Dumb Danny From Long Guyland is a real asshole for suing the families of the little girls! Daniel Schuler and his in-laws, Warren and Jackie Hance, later sued each other over the crash. The McDonalds employees and the camp ground owner also swear that Diane wasnt drunk when they saw and interacted with them that morning. The collision occurred after the troubled West Babylon resident drove south for 1.7 miles in the northbound lanes of the Taconic Parkway. The simple truth is that she guzzled vodka and smoked pot, got blotto and killed eight people, including herself. This is interesting to me. [1] It premiered on HBO on July 25, 2011. Things had likely been spiraling in the relationship for a while - unhappiness, feeling overburdened, etc. Of course anything is possible in a drunken blackout, but the question is why a closet alcoholic would drink herself into a drunken blackout with those kids in the car when she'd be home so soon & her family was expecting her. By what name was There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011) officially released in Canada in English? Your email address will not be published. 2011. Her husband: deny deny deny. Not one person who has a cousin who is married to someone who used to work with diane schuler? Diane Schuler, a 36-year-old Long Island mother of two, was at the wheel, drunk and high, headed south at 70 mph. The decision to leave the phone on the side of the road after the kids alerted one of the relatives to there being something wrong, and then the 2 mile straight, unswerving drive down the wrong side of the highway. Four lawsuits have been settled from a 2009 crash that killed eight after a drunk and high West Babylon woman drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, according to court documents and attorneys handling two of the cases. She drank some vodka right out of the bottle and probably smoked some pot. Would it have killed you to have at least posted a picture or link OP? Why dont you try to think more of others next time before you post? Meanwhile, his lawyer, Dominic Barbara, backed away from a report that he would seek another autopsy on Dianes body, now saying hed not decided what to do.. Schulers fatal crash contributed to the passing of the Child Passenger Protection Act. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. She also said something to her brother during that last phone call that was probably very telling about her motives. . The lawsuits against the estate of Diane Schuler, 36, claimed she was negligent when she drove a minivan south in the northbound lanes of the parkway on July 26, 2009. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that Diane never forgave her mother for making her a surrogate mother. Very good post R40; the story fascinated me too - because it starts out as coverage of this terrible accident in which the circumstance seem so inconsistent with the person everyone thought they knew, but as the story unfolds, you get insight into what happened with this woman and how the people that think they knew her (like her sister in law) really had no clue. Cages, milk and I-HOP: top fantasy football punishments of 2023, Movies of 2022: some good, some bad, some horrible. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Investigators said Diane Schuler drove against traffic and struck Bastardi's car. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. She was angry at her husband for being such a useless loser. Psychotic break? Something probably happened at the camping trip that made her reconsider the entire marriage with Danny - rather than go through a divorce, "lose control" of her marriage and kids, have her children experience a traumatic separation as she did, and leave her kids to an incapable/uninterested father, she decided to remain "in control" and put the kids and herself out of this misery. I don't know how much you'd have to take to sleep drive or sleep eat. Dianes daughter also was killed, as well as three men in an oncoming SUV. R76 I also agree she had likely made the decision and was determined to go out wasted. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. One thing is clear child welfare authorities are having trouble accepting that Daniel Schuler was clueless that his wife was drinking and drugging while driving. Grennan said there are still two cases pending in the state Court of Claims alleging that the design of the roadway was faulty. I didn't much care for the documentary. , a documentary on HBO, reveals previously unknown information about that day, and sheds light on the unknown side of Schuler. If this was a standard ugly crash - fine, I totally buy it. That was it. There was no fucking Ambien! Nine days after her deadly crash, Diane's toxicology report revealed she had a blood-alcohol content of . Other excuses for her: she was having a stroke, she was having a seizure, she had diabetes, she had a tooth abscess, she had a cyst on her leg that may be induced a blood clot. On Sunday, July 26, 2009, Diane Schuler set off in her car toward home on Long Island, a drive she had made numerous times before. Clearly, Diane had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders in that family. Nine days after her deadly crash, Dianes toxicology report revealed she had a blood-alcohol content of .19% the equivalent of ten drinks and more than twice the legal limit as well as a high blood level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. She said something about it during the call to her brother. Shortly after noon, Schuler had a phone conversation with her sister-in-law, Jackie Hance. Schuler, one of her children and three of her young nieces in the minivan were killed, as were three people in the northbound car she hit. You will have trouble walking or standing and are at a greater risk of hurting yourself physically. HBO's 'There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane' Documentary examines fatal crash by wrong-way driver on N.Y. highway. No, Emma, the oldest Hance child, called her MOTHER, and it was to her mother she said "there's something wrong with Aunt Diane." This was at 12:58PM. Privacy Policy This mysterious and shattering tragedy draws the public in, feeling a need to find out what really happened to Aunt Diane. She also had a lot of undigested alcohol in her stomach + had been smoking weed. (Not making sure his 2 year old daughter had a car seat?). Not 100% anyway. I work in an ER and the regular daily drinkers are walking and talking to me in the 200 and 300s.. even the 400s. Maybe all the adults were heavy drinkers and MJ smokers. You'd think she had no anger at all. Eight-year-old Emma Hance, Schulers eldest niece, called her father from the vehicle approximately a half hour prior to the fatal crash, saying: Daddy, there is something wrong with Aunt Diane.. She was angry at her mother for leaving her family. July 25, 2011 The film, however, raised more questions than it answered. [R40] is on the nose, too. He didnt realize it until the police told him. In the aftermath, Diane Schuler was portrayed as a reckless drunk and a mother who cracked. [quote]The McDonalds employees and the camp ground owner also swear that Diane wasnt drunk when they saw and interacted with them that morning. The settlement included claims by the estates of the three Yonkers men in the other car who died: Guy Bastardi, 49; his father, Michael Bastardi, 81; and their friend, Daniel Longo, 74. ", Found a reddit discussion on this a poster thinks that Ambien may have had something to do with it. IMO, the most logical explanation is that she was hungover and stopped at McDonalds to get OJ for the vodka we know was in the car, to take the edge off her hangover. And then ignored her children's screams of terrors and pleas to pull over as traffic was coming head on. Maybe it was Ambien? Do you think we mischaracterized a critic's review. Little crosses and flowers are in the medians where the two cars ended up. Here is a link to a pretty decent article written on the 10th anniversary of the crash that has a really detailed/comprehensive timeline of the whole day and even shows the exact place that Diane left the phone on the side of the road after a wrong number had been dialed three times. Well, there are a lot of theories, so I don't subscribe 100% to any of them. The accident made national headlines: a suburban mother drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway in New York and crashed head-on into an SUV, killing herself and seven others. He knows she's drunk and gets pissed and tells her to stay put because he's on his way to get his kids. Some one will want a nice payday and will talk. Diane told her brother she was having tunnel vision the very phrase Ive seen associated with heavy drinking. Someone suggested that she wasn't looking for pain meds in there but for alcohol. On Sunday, July 26, 2009, Diane Schuler left the campgrounds in upstate New York where she was vacationing with her family and set off towards home on Long Island. Her husband, brother and sister-in-law all know she's impaired but figure it's something she always does so she'll manage. This one always bothers me because both "sides" (accident versus intentional) have some pieces that make sense, but some parts that just don't fit. Schuler had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19, more than twice the legal limit. I would have IMMEDIATELY called the cops. If we accept the case that she is an alcoholic (I think the alcoholism is moot at this point), then you're trying to tell me that a seasoned alcoholic who has presumably been drinking heavily for years, gets this messed up after some vodka and weed? It would be very interesting to know the content of the phone conversation Aunt Diane had with her brother before the accident. Much of the material Ms. Garbus presents has been on the record already, most prominently in an article by Steve Fishman in New York magazine in November 2009. I have never before witnessed or heard of an alcoholic get so messed up that they lose control or cohesion to this extent. At one point the retarded hubby said "could she have been hallucinating and drinking vodka thinking it was water?" So no basic car safety was used for any of the 5 kidseven the 2 year old? She could have been black-out drunk. I do have to go to sleep right away cuz it makes me ravingly hungry. Im just wondering at what point exactly she started what seems to have been a binge? It's obviously sad for the kids and the guys she killed, but that incredibly tightly-wound, perfectionist women seemed like a time bomb. They want to see how depressed he is, added my source. She's really tired from partying all weekend without sleep, thus the iced coffee. Tomatometer 1 Reviews. I don't really get the ambien thing either. [1] It premiered on HBO on July 25, 2011.[2]. On July 26, 2011, the day after the premiere of HBO's documentary on the subject, There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, and on the second anniversary of the crash, Daniel Schuler announced that he is suing the State of New York for not keeping the road safe and his brother-in-law Warren Hance for being the owner of the minivan. And I could see the stop at McDonald's to let the kids play as being a "last hoorah" of sorts for them (which is so fucking sad). Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Hello. This thread has definitely made me realize this. It was in her blood and there was still 6 (was it ounces or quarts?) Hard to find anything "interesting" about that. And then there was the pot. This mysterious and shattering tragedy draws the public in, feeling a need to find out what really happened to Aunt Diane. But that's where the evidence leads me, sadly. I'd assume she had a routine down in her regular life to control her drinking/addictions and this trip likely off set that. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000281.htm. To me, this is all pretty cut and dry - she had been unhappy/depressed in her life for quite some time - raising kids with a deadbeat husband after having her own mother walk out at an early age. She has time on the drive to ponder things, and seems to be driving aimlessly. The filmmakers were able to obtain medical records that had eluded them and helped them to get answers from a private investigator they had hired. A wife and mother, who was also a cable TV executive, emerges in the film as a woman who strove to be perfect, often referred to as supermom by friends and family. It makes me wonder at what point is that day she decided she was going to just kill all of them? A scene from the film on the crash caused by Diane Schuler that killed her and seven others in July 2009. Its really bizarre and I admit I dont understand this case in that way. In sharp contrast to the toxicology report, Schuler had no known history of substance abuse or psychological problems and was generally known as a loving and stable wife and mother. I don't get the lingering loyalty to his POS sister. She leaves her phone on the barrier on the side of the road. I think she was drinking/smoking for liquid courage and was resolved to murder-suicide that day. The film, however, raised more questions than it answered. , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. Do I need to lecture you on how fucking stupid you are being? They could be the smartest people in the world but that accent makes them sound like dumbasses. It had to be murder-suicide. I just don't understand how people can think someone goes from driving perfectly fine, using a cell phone totally fine, being "coherent" by all account witnesses, and having experience with heavy drinking, to "she drank herself to the point that she didn't realize she was driving the wrong-way for 2 miles without swerving.". Pursuing Answers, Two Years After a Tragic Collision, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/arts/television/theres-something-wrong-with-aunt-diane-on-hbo-review.html. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Authorities want to figure out if Schuler, who denied that his wife even liked the taste of alcohol, is a danger to his son. No doubt she was pissed and irritated. She was a murderer that took the lives of 5 innocent children and 3 innocent men and her husband, bother and sister-in-laws - Jackie and Jay all covered for her. Why blow her cover by getting that wasted? Traces of THC in her body suggested that she had smoked marijuana as recently as 15 minutes before the crash. She was pulling over to puke, ffs. Before this call, Schuler made three, increasingly frantic calls from her cell not the one, calm conversation thats been previously reported. Five years after a violent wrong-way collision on the Taconic State Parkway killed eight people including four young children a flurry of civil lawsuits stemming from the crash have been dropped or quietly settled, with the terms sealed by a state judge. When Emma made that final call to her father, she also said how her aunt was having trouble seeing and talking funny [] slurring. Investigators later recovered a vodka bottle from the TrailBlazer. 1 hr 39 mins. Hello and thank you for registering. It chronicles the Schuler family's absolute denial that Diane was drunk and high at the time of the crash.". They made a big deal out of her asking for pain meds at the convenience store: "something must have been bothering her." He even admits he never wanted kids and is now stuck with the guy. I agree with most of your points except that I don't think the goal of the documentary filmmakers was to find a medical reason for what she did. Please click here to register for free. And then, for whatever reason, Diane decided to drop her phone and sped off to die. But when toxicology reports revealed Schuler was heavily intoxicated at the time of the crash, it seemed like an open and closed case of drunk driving. No mystery! Schuler's son, Bryan, who was 5 at the time, was the only survivor. Leaving the phone behind on the side of the road and then getting in the minivan with the kids for the final time looks pretty bad. (If you are a man, you will have difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection.) Well she got an OJ at McDonalds, presumably as a mixer for the vodka, and that is when she started drinking. Schuler was driving the five children from Hunter Lake Campground in the Catskills. She continues along and her head is pounding. I don't get it. ", I agree that she was drunk and high, btw. I wonder if he's still a security guard? Personal experience and the description below from St. John's University would suggest that she would be coherent enough to know what she was doing, even if a bit drunk. You may get nauseous. Have the Hances had to give any testimony through the various lawsuits about what happened on that day? I'm glad the Bastardis sued and got some compensation for the loss of their loved ones. The hot air makes her feel worse. How many people went with the 'she was drunk and it was an accident' narrative vs 'she knew what she was doing, the drink was help, not cause/murder-suicide' narrative? He hopes they will eventually be willing to sit down. I think it really revealed the depths of the family's state of denial, and what lengths her husband and sister-in-law were willing go to "prove" that it was a medical issue, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. In 2011, Liz Garbus directed the film There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane for HBO, a film that features interviews with Schuler's husband Daniel and her sister-in-law, Jay, who insist that she was not a drinker and couldn't or wouldn't have deliberately put the children in danger. This was the morning/early afternoon, in a car, with a bunch of small children. I think something happen on that camping trip, like she found out her waste of space of a husband was having an affair and lost her shit. This is a family who is trying desperately (almost to the point of irrationality) to preserve her imageOR, more likely, to deflect any potential legal or financial responsibility from themselves. 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