[1] A minivan, being driven by 36-year-old Diane Schuler, traveled 1.7 miles (2.7 km) in the wrong direction on the parkway and collided head-on with an oncoming SUV.

Her husband, Daniel Schuler, consistently denied that she used drugs or alcohol "excessively" and made multiple national media appearances to defend his late wife and call for further investigation into other possible medical causes for her erratic driving.

[6] At approximately 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 26, 2009, 36-year-old Diane Schuler left the Hunter Lake Campground in Parksville, New York, located in the Catskill Mountains, where the family kept their camping trailer.

[10][11] On the way back to their home in West Babylon, on Long Island, Schuler stopped at a McDonald's restaurant and a Sunoco gas station in Liberty.

Schuler left Liberty just after 11 a.m., traveling along Route 17/Interstate 86 and the New York Thruway (Interstate 87), entering the Ramapo-Sloatsburg service area, and crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge heading east.

[12] According to a police report, Schuler was seen by witnesses at approximately 11:45 a.m. by the side of the road with her hands on her knees, as if vomiting; she was seen again in the same position a short time later, north of the Ramapo-Sloatsburg rest stop.

Schuler, her daughter, and two of her nieces died at the scene of the crash, along with the three men in the TrailBlazer: 81-year-old Michael Bastardi, his 49-year-old son Guy, and their friend, 74-year-old Dan Longo.

A toxicology report released on August 4 by Westchester County medical examiners found that Schuler had a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of 0.19%, with approximately six grams of alcohol in her stomach that had not yet been absorbed into her blood.

[21][22] The incident drew nationwide attention as Schuler's husband, Daniel, strongly disagreed with the conclusion that she was heavily intoxicated at the time of the crash.

[2] In an August 8 press conference, Daniel and his attorney, Dominic Barbara, initially denied, given that several children had been with them, that Diane had taken any illegal drugs or was drinking that weekend at the campground.

Daniel eventually admitted that he and his wife had, in fact, consumed alcohol during the camping trip; he denied that Diane had had anything to drink on the day preceding the crash.

[33][32] Although Daniel was an "officer" in the Public Security Unit of the Nassau County Police Department, he was not required to report his wife's drug use, as he was a civilian employee.

[21] The results of an autopsy on the day following the crash, conducted by a Westchester County medical examiner, found that Diane had not suffered a stroke, an aneurysm, or a heart attack.

[22] The Westchester County medical examiner's office, which had performed the autopsy, commented that the chemical degradation of the fluid samples over time was likely to result in lowered alcohol and THC readings; however, several toxicology experts[which?]

"[24] Bastardi's daughters appeared with their lawyer on NBC's Today, during which they raised the question of Daniel's culpability in enabling his wife's substance abuse, and called for him to undergo drug testing himself.

[37] In October 2009, Ruskin, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, stated that, out of respect for the Bastardi family, Daniel had been avoiding media appearances since Larry King Live.

[40] According to the Westchester County medical examiner, the crash was ruled a homicide soon after it occurred because the victims were killed due to Schuler's negligent driving, regardless of toxicology findings.

[19] On August 18, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said that no charges would be filed in the incident, because Schuler was the only person responsible for the deaths.

[41] In October 2009, DiFiore faced accusations from both Dan Schorr and a Bastardi family attorney that she had mishandled the Schuler case by neglecting to initiate a grand jury investigation into the crash.

[45][46] On December 10, the Bastardi family filed suit against Schuler and her brother, Warren Hance, seeking unspecified damages for wanton, willful, and reckless conduct.

[48] The suit claimed that the three deceased Hance girls suffered terror, fear of impending death, extreme horror, fright and mental anguish.

[48] On July 26, 2011, the day after the premiere of the HBO documentary and on the second anniversary of the crash, Daniel sued the state for not "keeping the road safe" and his brother-in-law Warren Hance as the owner of the minivan that Schuler was driving.

It features a woman who speeds down the West Side Highway in the wrong direction before crashing and killing herself, her daughter and her two nieces, and another family in another car.

[citation needed] Jackie Hance wrote a book called I'll See You Again in which the tragedy is revisited, focusing on her initial grief and later reemergence into life.

The foundation's central project is Beautiful Me, a self-esteem program designed to educate girls by promoting appreciation for their genuine qualities, accurate self-awareness, and the satisfaction of helping others.