Daniel Schuler has filed a lawsuit against the State of New York. Who is Daniel Schuler? On July 26, 2009 his wife Diane Schuler, killed herself and seven others in a wrong-way crash on the Taconic State Parkway. He’s also suing his brother-in-law, whose three daughters were victims.
Mr. Schuler claims “the highway was poorly designed and lacked proper signs.” I can agree with that statement, when you consider that the Taconic was originally a road through a park (thus the designation Parkway) and now is a major highway through New York State, it could be considered poorly designed. As for the signs, it was reported that Ms. Schuler drove past a “Do Not Enter” sign when she entered the Taconic driving the wrong way.
As she drove down the road, other drivers honked their horns at her. I have been on the Taconic and know there are few places to pull over, put bluntly, I hate driving on the Taconic, some parts of it are downright scary to me. However, poor design and inadequate signage do not give a pass to a woman who was driving drunk and high, especially with children in the car.
Her husband disputes such claims, saying that if she had a stroke she might have mistaken Vodka for water. His son says, “Mommy’s head hurt.” I think that if I had drunk 10 shots of Vodka and smoking weed, my head would hurt too. But that’s just me.
He also states that since his brother-in-law owned the minivan he is “vicariously liable.” I think Daniel Schuler is “vicariously liable” for not noticing a problem with his wife. I firmly believe that a person does not suddenly down a bottle of Vodka and smoke marijuana because they are having a ‘bad day’. If she had a mental problem, or depression that has been developing for a while that is something that someone should have noticed. Maybe Mr. Schuler is feeling guilty and wants to push the guilt off on someone else. Maybe he is just a greedy SOB that wants to make money off the death of innocent people.
Whatever his reasons, when his wife got behind the wheel of that minivan drunk and high, she was committing what ended up being premeditated murder. Since she’s dead she can’t be held liable for her actions. Pushing the guilt off on other people only serves to make other people who are already suffering, suffer more.
Diane Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter, Erin, and her three nieces died in the July 26, 2009, crash, as did the three occupants of the SUV: Michael Bastardi Sr., Guy Bastardi and Daniel Longo of Yonkers.
Facts for this article came from The Journal News.
Belleza
just a city girl 