NewMexiKen is taking the day off to celebrate the blog’s sixth anniversary.
The posts today are being written by readers just like you. This is from Jill, but my thoughts exactly.
Remember the mother who drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway near New York City, eventually causing a crash that killed eight people, including her daughter and three nieces, and critically injured her son?
Police announced today that the woman, Diane Schuler, had a blood alcohol level of .19 and had also smoked marijuana in the hour before her death.
Apparently, she was driving erratically for some time before the crash: straddling lanes, tailgating, flashing her lights, driving across a median, and trying to pass on the shoulder. Six people called 911 to report her.
My initial reaction when I heard about this crash was to feel a measure of relief that this woman did not survive. I thought no person could or should have to live with that much pain. But, thinking now of what those last minutes must have been like for those terrified children, I find myself wishing she had survived.
I just read about this incident as well and am so sickened by what happened. Imagine the rest of her brother’s life (the father of the three nieces who died). He let her take his daughters and even talked to her when she was so drunk that she left her cell phone behind.
I had not envisioned the last few minutes of their lives before. I wish I still hadn’t.