Mother, 3 children drown after she drives van into river

LA Times ^ | 04/13/2011 | Tina Susman

[Responsibility2nd]

In a case that revived memories of Susan Smith, who left her two children to drown in her sinking vehicle, police Wednesday said a mother and three of her children died after she apparently drove her minivan into the Hudson River north of New York City. One child escaped and swam to shore.

The deaths occurred just moments after police in Newburgh, a small working-class city about 70 miles north of Manhattan, received a call of a domestic disturbance Tuesday at the woman's home. They responded, but not before the woman -- identified as 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong -- had piled her four children into the vehicle and driven six blocks to the river bank.

Before the car sank, a 10-year-old son, Lashaun, escaped through a window, swam to shore, and ran to a nearby fire station for help.

His siblings, Landon, 5, Lance, 2, and Lainaina, 11 months, died in the car along with their mother, and at a news conference, police and fire officials said it appeared all were alive when the minivan was driven into the water.

[Responsibility2nd]

"In this case there is no logic," Mayor Nicholas Valentine said, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported. "No one should do anything like this. Find another way out of it, especially with the children. Find help."

[Carley]

By bringing up Susan Smith they are saying that it’s not only black women who commit these crimes????

[itsinthebag]

I thought Obama was going to fix everything.

[Responsibility2nd]

Mother, 3 children drown after she drives van into river

Los Angeles Times - Tina Susman - ‎59 minutes ago‎

Police find a minivan in the Hudson River north of New York City with the bodies of the mother, 25, and children ages 5, 2 and 11 months.

Video: FireChief: Mom Drives Herself, 3 Kids Into River The Associated Press

Mother drives minivan into river with kids Reuters

New York Times - Seattle Post Intelligencer - ABC News

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[Cicero]

Lashanda, Lashaun, Landon, Lance,and Lainaina.

You can just see trouble coming.

[MisterI]

“Newburgh, a small working-class city”

HA! Newburgh makes Detroit look like Beverly Hills!

[Minn]

As Mythbusters demonstrated, if you plan to drive into a body of water, be sure to have something with that can easily break a window. Otherwise you are trapped in the car until it flips over a few times and sinks. By then you can't get out.

unless killing yourself and your passengers is your intention, of course.

[Responsibility2nd]

With a french baby-daddy: Jean Pierre.

(Or that could be Haitian, Dominican, etc. etc)

[Ramius]

10-year-old son, Lashaun, escaped through a window, swam to shore, and ran to a nearby fire station for help.

Prayers up for this boy. He's gonna need 'em.

[Liberty1970]

Newburgh, a small working-class city

Wouldn't it be more honest to describe as 'a small, welfare-class city'?

[ilovesarah2012]

Susan Smith didn’t kill herself. This mother did.

[pabianice]

[MisterI]

That’s true, not much “working” going on there.

[Responsibility2nd]

Really?

I’ve always understood that as a car enters the water, the pressure makes it impossible to open the door. And once the car is fully submersed - also - you can’t open the door.

But there is a middle ground. As the car is filling up with water - there comes a time when the pressure inside and outside of the car is the same. And at that time, you can easily open the car door as if it were parked in dry land.

The key is not NOT PANIC! Wait until that opportune time. Swim away.

(Learned from the Teddy Kennedy School of drinking, driving and diving.)

[hoosierham]

IJust women who are effin’ crazy!

[Cicero]

Most likely the father was named after Jean Pierre Boyer, one of the leaders of the Hatian revolution and President of Haiti:

[richmwill]

I’ve been to Newburgh several times- your description is accurate.

[rightwingextremist1776]

Once a car is completely submersed and filled on the inside the pressure differential will be gone and you can open the door.....or you can just roll down a window (before the car goes under if it's electric).

[Nickname]

Yes, the poor boy. How utterly terrified he must have been.

[Responsibility2nd]

Really? Completely submersed? Ugh. I hope and pray I never have to find out. I’d like to think I’d keep cool and not panic, but....