NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS) -- The Westchester medical examiner says new tests on the wrong-way driver who killed eight people on the Taconic State Parkway over the summer may show lower levels of alcohol and marijuana.
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The original autopsy found that 36-year-old Diane Schuler was very drunk and high when she drove her minivan, loaded with children, into an oncoming SUV on July 26.
Schuler, her daughter and three nieces in her minivan and three men in the SUV were killed. The Schulers' 5-year-old son survived with serious injuries.
Her husband, Daniel Schuler, rejects that finding and is arranging for blood and tissue samples to be retested.
But the medical examiner's office said Wednesday that normal chemical changes over six weeks could mean different levels of alcohol and marijuana than in its original autopsy.
Daniel Schuler's lawyer has suggested that other medical conditions such as a stroke or diabetes could have been responsible for Diane Schuler's actions and that a pain reliever could have prompted the alcohol findings. The claims have incensed the families of other victims.
Daniel Schuler's investigator, Tom Ruskin, said his experts believe new test results should be very close to the originals.
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