Anybody watch hbo documentary about LI woman who drove wrong way/crashed...

[Anonymous]

Oops the link! http://www.lhj.com/relationships/family/raising-kids/life-after-the-death-of-my-children/?page=1

[Anonymous]

I thought the documentary was really good/well directed...I was glued to the tv...It was really interesting to see the family's reaction and overall denial. I went into it thinking that Diane (the mother/driver) was an alcoholic who mixed marijuana and alcohol and suffered the consequences...but after watching it I was really questioning the "what ifs"...personally, i think she was a functional alcholic who proabably smoked some marijuana the night before (her husband admitted that she smoked occasionally...no secret there) and the marijuana was "bad" (tainted or something?), or the poly-pharmacy caused her to act that way. Who knows...it is truly a sad story and I am completely heartbroken for the families that lost loved ones in that accident. Losing my DS is unfathomable...my heart really goes out to the family that lost their daughters and to Diane's huband (and only survining son)...how awful to live with that...however, I do I think he is in such denial.

[Anonymous]

I did not see the show. I just read the article. How can anyone NOT judge this SIL? How can anyone defend her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oops the link! http://www.lhj.com/relationships/family/raising-kids/life-after-the-death-of-my-children/?page=1

devastating. is the woman's surviving husband really suing this family? this is unconscionable to me.

[Anonymous]

I am bawling and feel physically nauseous after reading the article by the SIL who lost her 3 children - saying my heart breaks for her and her husband does not sufficiently describe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would probably have watched if I had known it was on. I remember when it happened & how the details started to emerge after the accident. And I was just thinking about this story the other day for some reason - weird.

I think it's On Demand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I watched it and then spent the night obsessing about it. I couldn't stop thinking about all the "what ifs." It's truly one of the most bizarre and horrific accidents. There was clearly so much going on there that nobody knew about and the fact that she had 5 small children in the car with her is very difficult to process.

Exactly my reaction. Unfathomable and sad.

[Anonymous]

It's so hard to get through that article. I'm happy that she's going through with having her baby. She's a very brave woman. I'm not sure I could have gone that far after such a loss. I think I might have killed myself because the grief would be too much to bear.
I'm looking forward to hearing about the new baby.

[Anonymous]

I don't think she's along the lines of a cold blooded killer but she is a murderer. She is responsible for taking the lives of those children.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't you still have to be driving the wrong down the street to begin with to go up an exit ramp? Regardless of whether or not an exit ramp had signs it seems Aunt Diane was already off her rocker. Tainted pot or not her alcohol levels were twice what they should have been, who let these kids get into the car with her in the first place?

[Anonymous]

So so sad. I'll hug my 3 kids even tighter tonight.

But wow - what a marriage!

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing the woman was a long-time closeted alcoholic. Her husband worked nights, allowing her to drink alone, and she was asleep by the time he returned home. He probably knew she was a drinker but was in denial about her alcoholism. Besides, she was the earner in the family, and she made most of the decisions and controlled the finances. He never rocked the boat. Diane was aggressive and frequently demonstrated erratic, impulsive behavior, i.e., going to the grocery store and returning home with a new Jeep instead of groceries.

She was most likely drinking and smoking more than usual the night before, since she was on vacation, and continued her behavior the following morning. She even got herself an OJ mixer at McDonald's for the ride home. Maybe, maybe she was self-medicating and had a mental disorder, but it's utterly ridiculous and naive to suggest the pot she had smoked was "tainted." The toxicology report would have shown any narcotic consumption. This isn't an episode of CSI. The woman was an addict, possibly with a mental disorder, who never sought help. And her family and friends didn't have the balls to confront her and demand that she get help or at least protect the children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It made me so angry. Basically deflecting blame from this murderer. She was a sick person who devastated families.

you sure read a lot into it... not my take at all from what I saw, a horrific situation but "murderer" is way beyond what any of the evidence or forensic psychiatric profile supports ... if anything it was the family deflecting blame; the more knowledgeable experts clearly laid out the facts of an probably unintentional, but devastatingly horrific situation with the basis in who-knows-what facts.

You seem awfully judgmental given all the unknowables that were clearly laid out ... it's OK to be appalled and horrified ... less so to jump to a conclusion like "murderer" (which requires intent).

What unknowables?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven't seen the documentary but her husband has filed a suit against the state of New York for not having proper road signs and his brother-in-law the father of the three girls who were killed b/c he owned the mini van the drunk woman was driving. WTF!

I know! I could blame his behavior on his grief, but really, I think he's just as nutty and horrible as his wife was.

[Anonymous]

I think the family HAS to convince themselves that there is some "other" explanation for Diane's behavior.

If they knew she was an alcoholic or had been drinking before getting in the car, how could they live with the guilt of allowing those children to get in the car? It just compounds the already unimaginable pain of the loss of those children. I think sometimes people need to believe something so badly that they really do, deep in their hearts, come to believe that it's true - at an unconscious level, these people just cannot allow themselves to think that they should have picked up on some signs that something was wrong or that it wasn't safe to allow her to drive the children. I think that now, there is no way any evidence will prove to them that Diane was not who they believe she was. And I don't blame them for doing this; I think any of us could do the same thing rather than allow ourselves to think that we could/should have prevented the deaths of our children.

I think one of the saddest parts of this story is that she actually did pull over and speak to her brother. He told her to stay put and that he was on his way, and the girls' mother called 911 immediately, but unfortunately, no one could get to her before she managed to start driving again. And apparently the place she pulled over was just across the road from the state police headquarters or something?

There was a vodka bottle found in the car in front of the front passenger seat. I think she was drinking - a lot - in the car, and that's how she went from seemingly ok (had a coherent phone conversation with her SIL) to slurring her words & obviously incapacitated (so much so that the children were crying in the back of the car) in such a short period of time.