Marcus Yam for The New York TimesRelatives placed animal plush and balloons by the ramp where Lashanda Armstrong leads to the Hudson River Tuesday. ?More Photos?
Meave Ryan saw the boy waving his arms as it has slowed to a stop behind a string of cars. The other cars passing through the intersection, but it rolled to the bottom of the window. "He was shouting for help," she said. "He said,"my mom just driving the car in the water.""?”
Lance Pierre, 2, top, and Lainaina Pierre, 11 months, drowned. ?More Photos?Ms. Ryan, 31, said the boy - the ' Shaun Armstrong, 10 - to jump in. She drove the short distance from the ramp where he says that his mother had driven in the Hudson River in Newburgh, New York) "I got out of the car and went to Midway in the water to see if I could see their car".Said Ms. Ryan.
The vehicle, a black van, was already submerged. Ms. Ryan said the ' Shaun back in his car, and they led to firefighters headquarters a few blocks. It was almost empty. fire trucks were out on a call. "Us knocked on the door of the dispatcher", said Ms. Ryan. It was at 7: 50 a.m. Tuesday.
He has not taken long for horrible sense of the history of the boy to register: his mother, Lashanda Armstrong, 25, had it had said the ' Shaun - it had, in fact, led the minibus in the River. The ' Shaun had escaped, swimming in the water of 45 degrees.
The van was in eight feet of water. Mother of the ' Shaun was still inside, as were his three other children, identified by police as Landen, 5; Lance stone, 2; and Lainaina Pierre, 11 months.
Ms. Ryan said that the ' Shaun told why his mother was so upset. "There was an argument on cheating, of his mother, has been misled his father-in-law", said Ms. Ryan. On the short route in their apartment in Newburgh in the ramp, the ' Shaun said Ms. Ryan, his mother had called an older parent and said: "I'm sorry, I'm going to do something crazy, you will have to forgive me.".
Ms. Ryan said that the ' shaun had told him that the call had ended with the older relative saying she was going 911.
The police sent officers to the apartment, but it was too late. Ms. Armstrong had already stacked children in the row of the environment and on how that Nicholas Valentine, Mayor, called "a tragedy in this city I would say is unparalleled."
Ms. Ryan, which describes itself as a "mother in the home" which was on the way to see the parents in Fishkill, in the State of New York, said that the ' shaun is clear on what had happened. She said that he was told that Ms. Armstrong had caught the children as the minibus rolled into the water and said: "if I'm going to die, you're going to die with me". She said that the ' Shaun broke free, rolled down the window and swam.
He also told him that his mother tried to stop the tragedy played out, but it was too late. He said that as the van began to sink Ms. Armstrong said, Oh, "my God, I made a mistake, I made an error. He said that it was trying to move in reverse. But the van was too far into the water to go back.
The neighbours of Ms. said Armstrong had loaded the children in the minibus, after a violent quarrel with the father of three young children identified by the police: Jean Pierre, 26. It had been his high school prom date and has worked in a fast-food, neighbors said.
According to some, Mr. Pierre, had helped Mrs. Armstrong with the responsibilities of caring for four children on limited means. But there are tensions between the two: Mr. Pierre does not live with Mrs. Armstrong.
"From the outside, it seemed perfect," Sharon Ramirez, 22 years, one said neighbour and friend of Mrs. Armstrong. "But there is much current." They had a rocky relationship. "Ms. Ramirez was certain that because, she says, she assumed on a relationship with Mr. Pierre three months last year, when Ms. Armstrong was pregnant Lainaina.
Nate Schweber contributed reports of Newburgh, N.Y.
