Son: Mom in drownings realized 'mistake'

NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- The 10-year-old who swam ashore as his mom and three siblings drowned in a sinking minivan says his mother told her kids, "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 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, 'OK.' 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 25 yards from shore in 8 feet of water. Lashanda Armstrong and three children -- ages 11 months, 2 and 5 -- were dead.

Ryan's account conforms to reports from police, who say Lashanda Armstrong was involved in a domestic incident at her apartment Tuesday evening and within minutes had plunged off a boat ramp into the river just a half-mile from her apartment in a hard-luck section of the city.

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.

The boy told Ryan that Armstrong made a cell phone 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."