Mother in crash that killed 8 was drunk, authorities say
The mere existence of the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving implies that mothers don’t drive drunk. But they do: authorities say the cause of the horrific highway accident in late July that claimed the lives of a Long Island mother, her 2-year-old daughter, three young nieces and three men in another car was a result of the fact that the mother driving was very, very drunk.
She had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent, and even more alcohol still in her stomach, so fresh that it had yet to be metabolized. There were high levels of a chemical found in marijuana, enough to pinpoint her last use at 15 minutes to an hour before her death in the worst traffic accident in Westchester County in 75 years. via Driver in Crash That Killed 8 in Westchester Was Drunk, Autopsy Shows – NYTimes.com.
The findings are shocking, infuriating and bewildering. The thought that any parent could set out from a weekend camping trip with five children on a Sunday morning intoxicated and/or stoned is enough to make me think there has to be more to this awful story. The families left behind — including the woman’s husband, who left the campground at the same time in a separate car — have unimaginable tragedy to deal with, but also a lot of questions to answer. How many people have to look away from a problem for something like this to happen?
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Most shocking – almost incomprehensible – is the latest police report stating she drank “at least 10 ounces of liquor during the reckless 90-mile drive from a campground” and she “smoked pot within an hour of driving the wrong way” on the Taconic State Parkway. Drinking and smoking pot while driving with 5 kids in the car. You can bet we’ll hear more about this.
Not just getting drunk and then driving but drinking WHILE driving five little kids…I think I would be less shocked to find out that she had been kidnapped by a deranged escaped convict who forced her to ingest alcohol and smoke pot and then pushed her into her car and made her drive.
In response to another comment. See in context »There are a lot of people obsessed with this story, including me. On the one hand, the toxicology results made the whole situation make sense because how else could someone with no health problems make such a horrific mistake?
But they also make the story even more confusing, because it is just beyond understanding that someone could actually willfully do something like this. For all we know through autoptsy results, they have only deepened the mystery.
Cathy
When I blogged about this here, one of the comments — which seemed a little out there — stated firmly they thought Schuler was out to commit homicide and suicide. I did not respond to it then, but now I wonder. There are many, many unanswered questions here. Selfishly, this terrifies me as I also sometimes drive the Taconic and she could have hit me as well as anyone else.