Sullivan Co. DA: Taconic crash husband won't face charges

Daniel Schuler, the husband of the wrong-way Taconic State Parkway driver, is not expected to face criminal charges in the deadly crash that killed his wife, daughter and six others, the Sullivan County district attorney said Monday.

Schuler still faces a probe by Suffolk Child Protective Services into whether he should maintain custody of his son, Bryan, 5, who survived the crash with severe head injuries. The probe is focused on how much Schuler knew about his wife's drinking.

-PHOTOS: Taconic crash tragedy

"Now we'll be going to Suffolk County to make sure my client keeps his kid," said Schuler's attorney, Dominic Barbara.

In the Sullivan County investigation, the district attorney there, Stephen Lungen, said, New York State Police have no evidence showing that Schuler knew his wife, Diane, would consume alcohol and marijuana while driving their two children and three nieces home from an upstate campground, or that he aided her in any way.

"Really at this point, there's no one to be prosecuted in Sullivan County," Lungen said, calling the case "frustrating," though continuing.

Schuler had spent the weekend with his family at the campground, in Sullivan County, but left separately on July 26 before his wife drove a minivan with five kids the wrong way on the Taconic, crashing head-on with a sport utility vehicle and killing herself, her daughter, Erin, 2, her nieces, Emma Hance, 8, Alyson Hance, 7, and Kate Hance, 5, and three Yonkers men in the SUV - Guy Bastardi, 49, his father Michael Bastardi, 81, and their friend, Daniel Longo, 74.

Schuler came under scrutiny after toxicology tests showed his wife had used marijuana that day and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.19, more than twice the legal limit. Lungen said investigators wanted to know if he "endangered the lives of his children" by allowing them to ride with someone he knew could hurt them.

But he said Monday: "We don't have any information to lead us in that direction."

The crash occurred in Westchester, but Sullivan authorities have jurisdiction in upstate Parksville where the Schulers parted ways.

Westchester prosecutors plan to meet Tuesday with state police to go over evidence about the crash. A spokesman for Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore declined to comment. State police officials who have long said criminal charges were unlikely did not respond to messages Monday.

In an hour-long talk with Schuler on Friday, state police asked basic questions that appeared designed to "fill in the gaps", said Thomas Ruskin, a private investigator who was present at the session. Ruskin, who was hired by Schuler's family, said police seem more interested in evidence dug up by Ruskin such as a video of Diane Schuler acting normally on the morning of the crash, when trying to buy pain relievers at a convenience store.

Schuler has insisted his wife was not an alcoholic and that some medical condition must have played a role in the crash.

-PHOTOS: Taconic crash tragedy