UPDATE 8/5, 4:33pm: The lawyer for the family of Michael and Guy Bastardi, two of the three victims in the car struck by Diane Schuler on the Taconic State Parkway, says they are set to file a civil suit against Schuler's kin.
Newsday reports:
The case has a "a strong fragrance of criminality" and anyone who was aware of her condition and allowed her to drive could "possibly be an accomplice," said Irving Anolik, a Nanuet attorney representing the family of Guy and Michael Bastardi.
"It's hard for me to believe that the family did not know that this woman had an alcohol problem or a drug problem."
Meanwhile Warren and Jackie Hance, parents of three of the children killed in the crash, released a statement today insisting that they were unaware of Schuler's possible problem with alcohol:
This is the absolute last thing that we ever would have expected... We would never knowingly allow our daughters to travel with someone who might jeopardize their safety.
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UPDATE: The deadly Taconic State Parkway car crash has been ruled a homicide according to investigators.
Not only was Schuler drunk and high while driving, but she still had alcohol in her stomach when she was killed. A 1.75-liter bottle of Absolut vodka was also found at the scene.
In light of the recent revelations, members of the Bastardi family were planning on meeting with the Westchester County District Attorney's Office today.
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Original Story: 1010 WINS is reporting that Diane Schuler, the woman who drove nearly two miles in the wrong direction on the Taconic State Parkway before killing herself and seven others in a head-on collision, "had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit and marijuana in her system."
Schuler had told her brother that she wasn't feeling well in the time leading up to the crash. After driving the wrong-way for 1.7 miles, Schuler collided "with the northbound SUV driven by Guy Bastardi, 49, of Yonkers."
Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter Erin and Hance's three children - Emma, 9; Alison, 7; and Kate, 5 - were killed. Schuler's son, Brian, 5, was hospitalized at Westchester Medical Center.
...Bastardi was [also] killed, as was his father Michael, an 81-year-old Korean War veteran, and family friend Daniel Longo, 74, also of Yonkers.
Services for Schuler and her family were held last Thursday.