A 36-year-old mom from Floral park, NY was responsible for a horrific accident in her child-filled minivan while driving the wrong way down the highway drunk. Diane Schuler climbed into her minivan without a thought, apparently, filled with her children and their friends while she was intoxicated on alcohol and drugs.
Driving the wrong way, she caused a highway crash that killed herself and seven others, didn’t appear intoxicated to people who saw her before she began her trip and didn’t give warning signs to close family. Among the fatalities, three young girls died along with Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter and three men in an SUV hit by Schuler’s minivan in the fiery July 26 wreck on the Taconic State Parkway, about 35 miles north of New York City. It appears that Schuler’s 5-year-old son survived the horrific crash.
Schuler had a blood alcohol level over twice the state’s legal limit and had downed more than 10 drinks and smoked marijuana shortly before the crash, according to toxicology reports released Tuesday. State police said investigators didn’t know of the drug or alcohol use at first, until they found pieces of a 1.75-liter bottle of vodka underneath debris from the burned-up vehicle days later.
No criminal charges are planned, police said, although families of three Yonkers men, including a father and son who were driving in the SUV to a family dinner, consulted with Westchester County prosecutors Wednesday.
Evidently, everyone was shocked to find out that Schuler had been drinking, as she was not known to drink or have a problem with alcohol. It appears that her abusive behavior with illegal drugs and alcohol was not something that very many people knew about.
Research shows that alcoholics can vary from the weekend warriors, who only drink on Friday and Saturday nights, to the binge drinkers, who may not drink for months at a time and then will go on three or four day tares. Then, possibly in this case, there is the alcoholic whose disease comes as a shock to relatives.
Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Carolina Injury Law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.
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Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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