http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090727/NEWS02/9072703374 kids, 4 adults die in Taconic crashMOUNT PLEASANT - A fiery wrong-way crash on the Taconic State Parkway near Route 117 left eight dead, including four children who were all related, in what is the worst fatal roadway accident in Westchester County in 75 years.
"I've been with the state police for 24 years and I've never investigated anything so horrific," state police Investigator Joseph Becerra said.
It was also the second wrong-way accident on the Taconic yesterday - a two-car crash in Kent earlier in the day left five people hospitalized.
Police have not officially released the names of the eight dead, pending autopsies being done today.
The four children who died were ages 2, 5, 7 and 9.
According to state police, a Long Island family in a red Ford Aerostar minivan was heading the wrong way in the northbound lanes of the parkway around 1:35 p.m., carrying five children, when it crashed head-on with a Chevy Trailblazer sport utility vehicle carrying three people from Yonkers.
Becerra said it is believed the minivan then careered into a Chevy Tracker carrying two people. That's when the impact from the second crash caused the minivan to roll down an embankment, toss several children out of the car and burst into flames, he said.
Peter Deduvaj of Yonkers was heading north on the Taconic Parkway to visit his uncle in Mahopac. He was among the eight or so drivers who immediately pulled over to help the car in flames. His sister, Katrina, first saw the minivan whizzing past her the wrong way, moving at what she estimated was more than 70 mph.
"I looked in my rear-view mirror and all of a sudden, I see a head-on with the other car," she said. "And all you see is one car going in one way and the other car going the other way."
Hawthorne Fire Chief Joe LaGrippo and his unit were the first on the scene to find the minivan engulfed in flames, including the female driver. Emergency personnel immediately blocked off the road and were able to rescue one of the children trapped in the burning vehicle.
"The work our men did today was phenomenal," LaGrippo said. "I've been in the business a long time and this is some of the best work I've ever seen."
The driver and four of the children in the minivan died at the scene. Becerra said the 5-year-old child who was rescued is in critical condition at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. He remained in critical condition this morning.
Police this morning identified the minivan driver as Diane Schuler, 36 of West Babylon. State police told Newsday the family had been camping in Sullivan County and was returning home in their Ford Windstar minivan when the driver mistakenly entered the Taconic State Parkway via the Pleasantville exit ramp — a ramp for northbound traffic in Briarcliff. Schuler was an employee of Cablevision. Cablevision referred all calls to law enforcement.
The surviving 5-year-old is the driver's son, Becerra said. The boy's sister and mother died in the crash, as did three of his cousins, all girls. The surviving boy is Brian Schuler, police confirmed this morning.
Three adults in the SUV also were pronounced dead at the scene: Guy Bastardi, 49, of Yonkers, the driver; his 81-year-old father, Michael Bastardi; and a family friend, Daniel Longo of Yonkers. They were heading to Yorktown to shop at Kmart with Guy's sister, Roseann Guzzo, 64.
"I kept calling them all day and there was no answer," Guzzo said at the Bastardi family's home on Lorri Lane. "It feels devastating. I just didn't get to say goodbye."
The two people in the Tracker had minor injuries and were taken to Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow.
Why the minivan was driving the wrong way on the parkway is unclear. State police Capt. Michael Realmuto said the case is under investigation. Weather conditions yesterday were normal.
Other drivers tried to warn mom, police sayhttp://www.lohud.com/article/20090729/NEWS02/907290350/1018/Other-drivers-tried-to-warn-mom--police-say
