Mom drove 3 kids into N.Y. river; son escapes

By Seth Wenig, AP

A man looks at a boat ramp where a woman drove her minivan into the river in Newburgh, N.Y. The woman and three of her children drowned.

EnlargeCloseBy Seth Wenig, AP

A man looks at a boat ramp where a woman drove her minivan into the river in Newburgh, N.Y. The woman and three of her children drowned.

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 passerby saw Lashaun Armstrong, 10, 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.

"We are talking about a tragedy in this city that is second to none," said Newburgh Mayor Nicholas Valentine. "The whole scene surrounding what occurred in Newburgh last night will have a lasting affect on this city ... it will always be something that will be remembered."

Firefighters and police officers responded to the scene with divers and rescue boats. Vatter said it took divers an hour to locate the van about 25 miles offshore because of the murky water. The vehicle was submerged in 8 feet of water. They used a heavy-duty tow truck to pull it up the boat ramp and onto land.

Everyone inside was dead, Vatter said. A local pastor was called to the scene to give support to the rescuers.

The domestic altercation occurred about 10 minutes before the woman drove into the river, officials said. A relative received a phone call and heard "hustling" in the background and called police. When police responded they didn't find anyone home. There have been problems in the past with the mother and the father of the four children, said Police Chief Michael Ferrara.

Armstrong lived in an apartment in a gritty part of this humble river city. Several neighbors on Wednesday recalled her as an attentive mother who balanced care of her children with an outside job. They were shocked by the news.

"She was a very good mom," said Tina Claybourne, who lives nearby. "She took care of her kids. She always was with her kids."

The boat ramp was unguarded by gate or chain. There was no sign that anything tragic had happened save for a single teddy bear left at the end of a dock that runs alongside the boat ramp.

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.

The town is about 30 miles north of suburban Westchester County, where a mother driving a van the wrong way on a highway in 2009 slammed into an SUV, killing eight people.

The woman blamed in that crash, Diane Schuler, was drunk and high on marijuana, an autopsy found. Schuler died, along with her daughter, three nieces and three men in the other vehicle. Schuler's 5-year-old son survived.

The crash — and how Schuler could race against highway traffic with a vanload of frightened children — intrigued the nation and was featured on TV talk shows for months.

Her husband, Daniel Schuler, disputed the autopsy results and paid for more studies of her remains in hopes of proving she was not intoxicated. The results have not been made public.

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.

Contributing: Carolyn Pesce in McLean, Va.; Associated Press

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