This happened here in New York on 7./26 I am sure many know the story, it has been in all our papers. A women 36 years was driving on the opposite side of the Taconic Parkway in her minivan , with her 2 small children and her 3 nieces. At first reported she had phoned her brother to say she was not feeling way. Then she proceeded to get on the parkway in the opposite directions with 5 small children all under the age of 6 years old. She went along for 1.7 miles before crashing her car into another car killing 3 elderly men and killing herself, her 2 year daughter and her 3 small nieces, the only survivor is her 6 year son still in the hospital. Reports were first that the women was sick and perhaps her blood or sugar levels were off. Many people were trying to stop her before the accident occured. In our papers today it was confirmed that 2 hours before the accident she was seen by many people in the town driving around crazy with the 5 children in the car, people did try to stop her to no avail. We also found out that she threw her cell phone out the window before entering the wrong way. Well after all this the toxically reports came in and they interupted the regular programming to tell us this. Her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit and she was also found to have pot or weed in her system as well. I am sick and so so mad at this. All these senseless deaths could have been prevented, she took her life, she took her little daughters life, 2 years old, she also took almost took her 6 year sons life. She took 3 innocent strangers lives and more then that she took the lives of her brothers 3 littles girls all because of stupid alcohol and drugs. I am totally sick to my stomach over this oh dear God how I wish she was only one who deserved to die. Sick sick people in this world who do not give a damn and the alcohol and drugs mean more. I dearly pray for those innocent babies who will never know the joys of life and dearly pray for those innocent people who lost their lives and their families to a truly stupid idiot damn alcohol and damn illegial drugs of any kind......totally pissed more then words could ever say, what a true horrific sad story,,, why God does these things happen. Rest in peace all those sweet baby angels...... Catherine and peace to their families...

People with addictions don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and getting the high they want. They make me sick!

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Susiecat what you said right on the money. If she the women wanted to drink and drive , she did just that, but gave no thought to all those innocent lives so young lives she took with her totally bad judgement , no excuses or reasons at all. Wrong, totally wrong.. again my heart goes out to those babies and the family members who left behind to wonder, why???. Peace to them. Catherine

Why can't they just get drunk at home and not risk killing anyone??????? Very self-centered.

I know what you mean but the only difference between a legal and an illegal drug is a piece of paper written by a doctor. Michael Jackson and Anna Nicole Smith were using so many 'legal' drugs, their homes looked like pharmacies. It's not the alcohol and drugs themselves that do the damage - they're just inanimate objects. It's the idiots who abuse them and ruin other people's lives that are to blame.

I read about this tragedy and this idiot had NINE people in her SUV when she barreled the wrong way down the road. She had a blood alcohol limit of 0.19! That's more than double the legal limit of most states but that wasn't enough for her. She smoked a joint less than an hour before getting behind the wheel, too. This is where she was at with just the alcohol she drank:

0.02 - 0.03 Legal definition of intoxication in R.I. for people under 21 years of age. Few obvious effects; slight intensification of mood.

0.05 - 0.06 Feeling of warmth, relaxation, mild sedation; exaggeration of emotion and behavior; slight decrease in reaction time and in fine-muscle coordination; impaired judgment about continued drinking.

0.07 - 0.09 More noticeable speech impairment and disturbance of balance; impaired motor coordination, hearing and vision; feeling of elation or depression; increased confidence; may not recognize impairment.

0.08 Legal definition of intoxication in R.I. for people 21 years and older.

0.11 - 0.12 Coordination and balance becoming difficult; distinct impairment of mental faculties and judgment.

0.14 - 0.15 Major impairment of mental and physical control; slurred speech, blurred vision and lack of motor skills; needs medical evaluation.

0.20 Loss of motor control; must have assistance moving about; mental confusion; needs medical assistance.

0.30 Severe intoxication; minimum conscious control of mind and body; needs hospitalization.

0.30 - 0.60 This level of alcohol has been measured in people who have died of alcohol intoxication.

0.40 Unconsciousness; coma; needs hospitalization.

Add smoking a joint to that blood alcohol level and it's incredible tha she was still conscious. Getting behind the wheel in that condition and drinking more was so stupid that it's a good thing she's out of the gene pool. The three men in her SUV couldn't have not noticed her chugging the bottle of Absolut vodka while she sped along or her impaired condition. Anybody stupid enough to ride with somebody in that condition is no loss to the gene pool, either. The others are all victims of her selfishness and all those lives were lost because of her decision to drink, drug, and drive.

!

On the news (ABC ch.7) last night, the said that in addition to her blood alcohol level of .19, she had 10 undigested drinks in her stomach! TEN -- I cannot even imagine.

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Wait, I thought she was driving a minivan (with 6 people in her vehicle, her and 5 children) and hit an SUV with 3 men in it?

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Yes, that's right. She had 5 children in her minivan. 2 of the kids were hers, and the other 3 were her brother's. The only one to survive was her 5 year-old son.

Opal thanks so much for listing all the levels of alcohol and there effects on the person. I also agree with you 100 percent when it comes to MJ and Anna Nicole, yes there are legal and illegial drugs and if a person makes a wrong judgement to abuse them who suffers. This story is on all the front pages in my papers here in New York, it is terribly sad and I am totally lost for words, in her minivan was herself and her 2 small children and her 3 nieces. In the other car was the little elderly men. From reading everything as more is coming out on this story, she had left a campground at 10 a.m and said goodbye to her husband and after that she was seen for more then 2 hours driving crazy all over the town .They say at about 1 p.m. that day she had phoned her brother to say she was not feeling well. At 1.30 she entered the the northbound Taconic via the exti ramp and drove 1.7 miles before slamming into the other car, in which was a elderly man his son and the elderly mans friend. So many people are saying she should have been the only one to survive while all the others died. I do not agree with that, I firmly believe, she should have been the only one to die, since she was the one who decided to get so drunk and high . I am sick so sick over this story, my heart is breaking those poor innocent babies and those poor innocent men may God bless them all and sincerely hope they are in a much better place . Peace for the families of the victums. Catherine

I heard but am not too sure how true it is though that the family of the men killed in the suv contacted an atty once the test results came out. Catherine, has it been in any of your papers how the little boy is doing? I am in NJ and haven't heard much on his status and was wondering if he is improving.

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In my papers this morning, it reads that Diane Schuler's 6 year son Bryan is recovering in Westchesters Medical Center. As far as the other victums families it reads the brother and sister who lost their elderly Dad Micheal Bistardi 81 and their Brother Guy Bistardi 49 have retained a law firm and planned to meet with the Westchester District attorney this morning. If I have any further or new news on this horrific sad story I will post here. Peace to those victums and rest in peace in God home of paradise a place we call heaven.... Catherine

thats sensless and awful. I have a question bc i have no idea how this works. If the person who committed the crime dies how does the victims family go after them? can they sue for money? how does the one who committed the crime who died pay the money? or does it fall on their family to come up with the money?

steph

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I don't know how it works either but I wonder if they would sue her insurance company or her estate.

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I heard something on CNN that they are suing the family because if she was an alcoholic and drug abuser, her family should have known and taken actions to stop her.

However, the family is disputing the alcohol/drug charge because they say she drank very little and did not use drugs. It also said that her family wants to have her exhumed and more toxicology tests done to prove that she was not drunk/high.

I guess we'll see...

Lisa

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I heard that they found a bottle of vodka in the van and she had 10 drinks in her stomach that weren't absorbed into her system yet and that she had smoked marijuana approxmiately one hour before the crash They are talking about it on Nancy Grace now.

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thats so sad and tragic my prayers are with them all.

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So does that mean her blood alcohol would have been even higher? If they weren't absorbed, would they show up on the blood alcohol level? If she was already .19, which I heard that was equivilant to 10 drinks, what would it have been if those 10 more were included? How can someone drink that much? 20 drinks? Plus marijuana? OMG.

Lisa

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Let me stress though that those levels are for the standard person who does NOT have a drinking problem. If she had a problem then she may have been able to function at the level she was.
I worked in the ER and we had a patient that used to come in with a level of 0.60 and he was walking and talking. This was his base line. If he ever dropped below 0.25 he would probably die.

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Her husband has been on the news saying she was not a 'party person', didn't drink much, didn't have a 'drinking problem'. He thinks she had some unknown medical condition, but what type of condition would make a persons BAC register that high? I have never heard of anything like that before? Could she have hidden a drinking problem that severe from her family? Or did she just have a couple drinks that really really affected her (um, personal experience there) but drinking in the morning seems weird, especially since she knew she had to drive home! Such a tragic case!!

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I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say she may have easily been a closet alcoholic and hid it well from her family. It may not have been unusual for her to be drinking that amount even early in the day. Under most circumstances she probably even would have been functioning close to normal if she was a regular drinker.

She may not have been a regular pot smoker though, and I think (my opinion) is that is what caused the extreme disorientation. Pot by itself normally wouldn't cause something like this, but on top of alcohol it can be disastrous.

It's sort of a known thing among partiers that you can smoke and then drink without too many ill effects. But drinking and then smoking afterward will likely have you flat on your back sick as dog.

I made the mistake of smoking after I had been drinking a few times in my youth and regretted it every time. I wasn't a novice with either, but the combo would have me on the floor with my head in my hands not even able to focus my eyes.

Lots of people can drink and then smoke pot, but I'm guessing she wasn't one of them.

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