The lawyer for the family of two victims in the grisly Taconic State Parkway crash slammed Daniel Schuler yesterday, pointing to the widower’s 1995 DWI bust as proof he and his wife were heavy drinkers and he should have known about his wife’s alcohol abuse.
“It’s consistent with the pattern of life that these people led,” said Irving Anolik, an attorney representing relatives of Michael and Guy Bastardi, the father and son killed when drunk driver Diane Schuler’s minivan collided with their SUV.
“I think the husband and the deceased wife were unquestionably quite familiar with imbibing alcohol,” he said. “I can’t say the husband used marijuana, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.”
Anolik questioned how Schuler could blame an untreated medical condition rather than a high blood-alcohol level for his wife driving the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway July 26.
“It just doesn’t happen out of the clear blue sky,” he said. “It’s clear from the tests that were given, that she was unquestionably drinking, that she was unquestionably using drugs,” Anolik said.
He also criticized Schuler’s lawyer, Dominic Barbara, for not answering questions about Diane Schuler’s pot use before the crash.
“Mr. Barbara had the audacity to preface his meeting with the press by saying there will be no questions tolerated on drugs,” Anolik said. “I have never heard of anything like that before.”