Jonathan Fickies for The New York TimesThe scene of a three-car crash on the Taconic State Parkway on Sunday in Briarcliff, N.Y.
A Long Island woman driving a minivan that plowed into an S.U.V. Sunday afternoon in Westchester, killing eight people and injuring three, had been going in the wrong direction for nearly two miles before the collision, the State Police said Monday. Two hours before the accident, she had called her brother and told him she was not feeling well, the police said.
The driver, Diane Schuler, 36, of West Babylon, turned her Ford Windstar onto the northbound exit ramp of the Taconic Parkway on Pleasantville Road, near Mount Pleasant, on what was her left, but to drivers going the correct way, their right, the authorities said. She then crossed three lanes of traffic into the passing lane and headed south, swerving around oncoming cars for 1.7 miles before crashing into a Chevy Trailblazer carrying three men from Yonkers on their way to a family party in Yorktown, N.Y.
“To her, it would have seemed like she was in the right-hand lane,” said Captain Michael Realmuto of the State Police.
The minivan had been headed in the wrong direction long enough to prompt at least six drivers who passed her to call 911, the authorities said.
Ms. Schuler and four of the five children in her minivan were killed, along with the three men in the Trailblazer: a man, his son and their friend. As it spun out of control about 1:35 p.m., the minivan also collided with a third vehicle, leaving the driver and passenger with minor injuries.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Captain Realmuto provided some insight into what may have affected Ms. Schuler’s judgment. Two hours before the accident, he said, she called her brother, Warren Hance of Floral Park, N.Y. — the father of three of the four girls who died — and said she was not feeling well. Mr. Hance told her to stay where she was so he could come get her, but she did not know where she was at the time she called him, Captain Realmuto said.
“She wasn’t real specific when she spoke to her brother,” Lt. James H. Murphy said. “She seemed a little disoriented. She didn’t know where she was when she spoke to him.”
Ms. Schuler, three young nieces and her daughter, 2, and son, 5, were apparently returning from a weekend camping trip in Monticello, N.Y. The police said that she had not been taking medication and had no history of medical problems that might have played a role in the crash.
“We do not know what caused the operator of the vehicle to travel the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway,” Captain Realmuto said. “Accidents involving drivers going the wrong way on the parkway are rare.”
The scene of the crash was one of devastation. Investigators said Ms. Schuler and at least one child may have been ejected from the minivan. Because many of the car seats were burned in an ensuing fire, investigators were still trying to determine whether seatbelts had been used.
The State Police identified the dead as Ms. Schuler; her daughter, Erin Schuler, 2; and three nieces, Kate Hance, 5; Alison Hance, 7; and Emma Hance, 9. Her son, Brian, 5, was being treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., for head trauma and was in critical condition.
The three who died in the Trailblazer were Michael Bastardi, 81; his son, Guy Bastardi, 49; and a friend, Daniel Longo, 74, who was in the back seat. The man and the woman in the other car that was hit — Angela M. Tallarico, 53 and her passenger, Dean Tallarico, 53 — were treated for minor injuries at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
After crashing into the two vehicles, the minivan came to a stop on a grassy strip between the lanes of the parkway, where it burned to its frame.
The accident was the second on the Taconic on Sunday involving a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction. The Associated Press reported that five people were injured several hours earlier in an accident about 20 miles north of Mount Pleasant. On the same day, at 2 a.m., a man was arrested driving the wrong way on the Taconic, the police said. They said that he was drunk.
“To her, it would have seemed like she was in the right-hand lane,” said Captain Michael Realmuto of the State Police.
The minivan had been headed in the wrong direction long enough to prompt at least six drivers who passed her to call 911, the authorities said.
Ms. Schuler and four of the five children in her minivan were killed, along with the three men in the Trailblazer: a man, his son and their friend. As it spun out of control about 1:35 p.m., the minivan also collided with a third vehicle, leaving the driver and passenger with minor injuries.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Captain Realmuto provided some insight into what may have affected Ms. Schuler’s judgment. Two hours before the accident, he said, she called her brother, Warren Hance of Floral Park, N.Y. — the father of three of the four girls who died — and said she was not feeling well. Mr. Hance told her to stay where she was so he could come get her, but she did not know where she was at the time she called him, Captain Realmuto said.
“She wasn’t real specific when she spoke to her brother,” Lt. James H. Murphy said. “She seemed a little disoriented. She didn’t know where she was when she spoke to him.”
Ms. Schuler, three young nieces and her daughter, 2, and son, 5, were apparently returning from a weekend camping trip in Monticello, N.Y. The police said that she had not been taking medication and had no history of medical problems that might have played a role in the crash.
“We do not know what caused the operator of the vehicle to travel the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway,” Captain Realmuto said. “Accidents involving drivers going the wrong way on the parkway are rare.”
The scene of the crash was one of devastation. Investigators said Ms. Schuler and at least one child may have been ejected from the minivan. Because many of the car seats were burned in an ensuing fire, investigators were still trying to determine whether seatbelts had been used.
The State Police identified the dead as Ms. Schuler; her daughter, Erin Schuler, 2; and three nieces, Kate Hance, 5; Alison Hance, 7; and Emma Hance, 9. Her son, Brian, 5, was being treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y., for head trauma and was in critical condition.
The three who died in the Trailblazer were Michael Bastardi, 81; his son, Guy Bastardi, 49; and a friend, Daniel Longo, 74, who was in the back seat. The man and the woman in the other car that was hit — Angela M. Tallarico, 53 and her passenger, Dean Tallarico, 53 — were treated for minor injuries at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
After crashing into the two vehicles, the minivan came to a stop on a grassy strip between the lanes of the parkway, where it burned to its frame.
The accident was the second on the Taconic on Sunday involving a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction. The Associated Press reported that five people were injured several hours earlier in an accident about 20 miles north of Mount Pleasant. On the same day, at 2 a.m., a man was arrested driving the wrong way on the Taconic, the police said. They said that he was drunk.
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