Newburgh - The 10-year-old who swam ashore as his mom and three siblings drowned in a sinking minivan says his mother told her children “you're all going to die with me”, then changed her mind and tried, too late, to back out of the frigid Hudson River, according to the woman who found the sopping wet boy.
Meave Ryan was driving past the boat ramp in Newburgh on Tuesday evening when she spotted La'Shaun Armstrong waving his arms.
Ryan said the boy told her that his mother, Lashanda Armstrong, had a “big, big argument about my stepdad's cheating on her”, then piled her four children in the minivan and sped into the river.
Ryan told The Associated Press on Thursday that the boy said Armstrong had held the kids as the minivan began sinking.
“She was holding on to all of them and said, “If I'm going to die, you're all going to die with me.' She said that two or three times,” Ryan said.
But as the vehicle sank, La'Shaun broke free of his mother's grasp and clambered out a window.
Ryan said: “While he was doing that, he heard his mother saying, “I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake.' And she tried to reverse the car out, but at that time it was too late. He said, “Mommy, I'm going to go get help,' and she said, “Okay.' And that was the last he heard from his mother.”
Ryan drove the boy to a nearby fire station. Rescuers immediately went to the river, but it was too late: They found the van about 25m from shore in 2.5m of water. Lashanda Armstrong and three children - aged 5, 2 and 11 months - were dead.
Ryan's account conforms to reports from police, who say Lashanda Armstrong was involved in a domestic incident at her apartment on Tuesday evening and within minutes had plunged off a boat ramp into the river just a kilometre from her apartment in a hard-luck section of the city.
“I don't know if we'll ever find out what Lashanda Armstrong was thinking when she left that home and drove to the river,” said Newburgh Police Chief Michael Ferrara.
Armstrong's aunt had called police at about 7.45pm on Tuesday to report a domestic incident at her niece's apartment. By the time police got there, she was gone. Besides Armstrong, Landen Pierre, 5, Lance Pierre, 2, and 11-month-old Laianna Pierre died.
Earlier that day, Armstrong appeared stressed when she picked up the children at the Young and Unique Christian Development Child Care, said Shaniesha Strange, supervisor in the infant room.
Police questioned the man they identified as the father of the three dead children, Jean Pierre, but did not give details. He apparently didn't live with the mother and children and could not immediately be located for comment.
Hetty Minatee, another teacher at the day care centre, said Armstrong had enrolled the four children there in September. At first, Jean Pierre would come in with Armstrong and sometimes would pick up the kids.
“A couple weeks ago, she came in a little upset,” Minatee said. “She said, “Miss Minatee, I don't want the father to pick the kids up or have any contact with them.' She said she was trying to get a court order so he could never see the kids again.”
La'Shaun is staying with the aunt, Angela Gilliam. He's “doing fine”, Gilliam said.
“She was a good mother. She was going through some stuff,” Gilliam said of her niece. “Nobody knows what my niece went through.” She would not elaborate.
The boy told Ryan that Armstrong made a cellphone call to her mother as she sped toward the water, asking for forgiveness.
Ryan said La'Shaun blames himself for never teaching his siblings how to swim.
Ryan said she kissed him on the head before she left and told him, “You're in my prayers”. - Sapa-AP