Newburgh, N.Y. • A 10-year-old boy escaped through the window of a minivan and swam to shore to get help just as his mother drove the van into New York’s Hudson River, killing herself and three other children, police said Wednesday.
Lashanda Armstrong, 25, drove the minivan into the river off a boat ramp in the city of Newburgh about 8 p.m. Tuesday, shortly after a domestic incident, police said. The van went into the river just six blocks from where the family lived in this faded city about 60 miles north of New York City.
Fire Chief Michael Vatter said a passer-by saw Lashaun Armstrong come out of the river, picked up the soaking wet boy and took him to a nearby fire department. Vatter said the boy was so distraught that he had difficulty talking but ultimately told firefighters what happened. Rescuers went immediately to the river but it was too late to save the four victims.
In the van with Lashanda Armstrong were Landon Pierre, 5, Lance Pierre, 2, and 11-month-old Lainaina Pierre, police said. Her husband and the father of the three dead children, Jean Pierre, was questioned. Police would not give details of the interview or say if the father had been charged with anything.
FOX
Police are investigating what led a New York mother of four to drive herself and her children into the cold and murky Hudson River, killing herself and three of her kids.
The woman's 10-year-old son managed to escape the submerged minivan and swim to shore after his mother drove into the river at around 8 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.
Authorities said during a press conference Wednesday that 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong, of Newburgh, N.Y., had just been involved in a domestic dispute before she loaded her children into the vehicle and drove them into the river.
"We are talking about a tragedy in this city that I would say is probably second to none," Newburgh Mayor Nicholas Valentine said. "The whole scene surrounding what occurred in Newburgh last night will have a lasting effect on this city."
Officials said the 10-year-old boy managed to open the minivan's power window, climb out and swim to shore. The boy was picked up by a passerby, authorities said, and was able to alert firefighters at a nearby fire station.
Divers searched for the minivan for about an hour before finding it submerged in 8 feet of water about 25 yards offshore, Newburgh Fire Chief Michael Vatter said. Inside the vehicle were two boys, ages 5 and 2, and an 11-month-old girl. Everyone inside was dead, Vatter said.
Armstrong lived about six blocks from where she and her children perished. The domestic altercation occurred about 10 minutes before the woman drove into the river.
Officials said Wednesday they had no comment on whether Armstrong suffered from mental illness. They said they had located the father of the children and were questioning him.
Newburgh, which has about 30,000 residents, sits on the western shore of the part of the river that runs south through New York State and eventually splits New York and New Jersey.
A similar incident occurred in 2006, about 20 miles south of Newburgh.
In 2007, Victor Han, of Queens, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to child endangerment. Han admitted he knew he was putting his daughters at risk when he stepped out of the family minivan on Bear Mountain in June 2006, leaving them with their mother, 35-year-old Hejin Han. She then drove the Honda Odyssey off a 300-foot drop, killing herself. The mother was killed, but the children somehow survived the plunge.
It's also reminiscent of the case of a South Carolina woman who drowned her young sons in 1994.
Susan Smith is serving a life sentence for killing 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex by strapping them into their car seats and driving the car into a pond. Smith originally claimed she was carjacked before the truth came out.
teddy bear with cross the sicko bitch left on the dock.
NEWBURGH, N.Y. — A fire official says the 10-year-old boy probably had less than two minutes to escape after his mother drove their minivan into a swift-moving New York, killing herself and three of the boy's siblings.
Lashaun Armstrong was the only survivor after 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong plunged the van into the Hudson River in this gritty city 60 miles north of New York City.
Fire Chief Michael Vatter says Lashaun got out of one of the van's windows, pulled himself up onto a nearby boat ramp, turned around "and it was gone."
The mother who drowned herself and her three children when she drove their car into a freezing river 'snapped' after finding out their father was allegedly cheating on her.
LaShanda Armstrong, 25, was unable to cope after discovering Jean Pierre, 26, had been sleeping with another woman, according to allegations by a friend.
In despair Miss Armstrong loaded her minivan with their three children and her other son from another relationship and drove it into a river seven blocks from their home in Newburgh, New York.
taller boy in white shirt is the survivor.
the others are gone. :(
her with baby daddy
04-13-2011 07:05 PM
Midwest Spy
Mr. Insightful
Posts: 1,598
Joined: Feb 2011
LC, we reap what we sow. As men, we have to understand there are consequences for our actions. I'm not condoning what she did in the least, I'm just saying, he needs to understand the role he played in the deaths of his children.
The mom got in the back of the car with the children and put
her arms around them and said "We will all die together."
(per ABC News NY). Then the older boy squirmed from her
grasp and was able to push the window button before the
car was affected by the water. He then swam out of the window.
This poor child.
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