Four die after New York mother drives van into river

A 10-year-old boy in New York climbed out of a sinking van after his mother drove him and three of his siblings into the Hudson River.

He was the only one who survived.

The Associated Press reports that Lashaun Armstrong is the sole survivor after 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong plunged a van holding him, his two brothers and an 11-month-old sister into the river just after high tide Tuesday night.

Lashaun rolled up the window and swam up to the boat ramp, where a passerby picked up the soaking wet boy and brought him to a nearby fire department.

Fire officials said that the boy had about two minutes to escape the van before it sank.

It took about an hour for divers to find the van in the 45-degree waters.

Neighbors told reporters that they were shocked by the news but Armstrong's aunt recalled talking to her earlier Tuesday and that she was "not too good." She even called police about her niece's well-being.

Neither the aunt nor police would elaborate on the domestic incident.

By the time police got to the apartment where Armstrong and her children lived, she had already taken the plunge.

-Chance Welch

Comments

[Spingle Stein]

A terrible story. There had to be many signs that the mother was unstable but since those things always happen to the "other guy", nobody probably took them seriously.