2009 Taconic State Parkway crash

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The 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash was a traffic collision that occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m. on July 26, 2009, on the Taconic State Parkway in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, United States. 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. Eight people were killed: Schuler, her daughter and three nieces, and the three occupants in the SUV. The crash was the worst fatal motor vehicle crash to occur in Westchester County since July 22, 1934, when a bus crash in Ossining claimed twenty lives.

The ensuing investigation into the crash's cause received nationwide media attention. Toxicology tests conducted by the medical examiner revealed that Schuler was heavily intoxicated with both alcohol and marijuana at the time of the crash. 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. An independent investigator hired by the Schuler family obtained DNA testing and toxicology re-testing of Schuler's samples, and confirmed the results of the original testing.