Mother Drives Van Full of Children into River
 

I can't believe this is happening again!!!! We need much prayer when dealing with our emotions when relationships go bad.

Lashanda Armstrong, Distraught Mother, Drove Van Full Of Children Into Hudson River

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...1_lnk3%7C56132

NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Angela Gilliam called the police at 7:43 p.m. Tuesday. She was worried about her niece's well-being and said there was a domestic tussle going on at the younger woman's apartment in this hardscrabble city on New York's Hudson River.

Police headed to the apartment but by the time they got there, it was empty.

Seventeen minutes later, Gilliam's grand-nephew La'Shaun Armstrong stood shivering and soaking wet in a firehouse down the street, struggling to get the words out: His mother, 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong, had driven their minivan off a boat ramp and into the river, taking her three other children with her.

All of them died.

Only 10-year-old La'Shaun survived, managing to open the driver's window and escape the van just before it slipped beneath the surface.

As the van hit the river, Lashanda Armstrong told her terrified kids, "If I'm going to die, you're going to die with me," NBC reported.

Police were still working Wednesday night to piece together the events that led to Tuesday's tragic plunge that killed Armstrong and three children: Landen Pierre, 5, Lance Pierre, 2, and 11-month-old Laianna Pierre.

Again?

This happened a few years ago IIRC. I forget when and where but I do remember hearing about it.

Are you referring to the Susan Smith case?

That's been pretty well debunked.

What are you referring to?

Oh, sorry, I was thinking backwards. I just re-read Brutal Imagination last month and it's stuck in my brain all wrong. Damn creative license!

Yes, Susan Smith drove her kids into the river.

It's just terrible

I just can't handle this! Mothers usually have a maternal instinct that protects children, ... unless she's deal with Postpartum Depression of some sort. But this mother had a 10-year-old! I don't know how old the youngest baby was (and I don't WANT to know), ... but I have to pray to God that mothers stop doing these things to their children when there is some man involved. :( My heart just bleeds for thost babies! :(

I heard about this at work. I was heartsick then and I'm heartsick now. :(

Am I reading it wrong or didn't they say the youngest was 11 months? And if my calculation is right, she had the surviving child at age 15. Whenever I hear things like this it always makes me want to pay more attention to people, because you never know when someone is crying out for help.

My heart goes out to her family, especially the son. Newburgh is no joke and now he has to deal with the trauma of having a parent try to end his life. This is an absolute tragedy.

This happened in Arkansas like two years ago.

Postpartum Depression is not the only mental illness that would lead someone to do something like this.

That's correct.

According to her son she also realized she made a mistake and tried to change her mind by reversing the car. By then it was too late.

Mental and emotional concerns are not as gendered as people assume. There are women who physically, emotionally, and sexually abuse their children; there are women who abandon their children; so it is not shocking to me that there are women who kill their children.

However, the notion of some immunity from mental and emotional concerns (this assumption is also correlated with race, ethnicity, and culture) is one reason why women tend not to tell people or seek help when they have such concerns. It is not uncommon for mothers who express stress and anger with life and/or raising children, including poor mental and emotional health, to be told "ahhhh, get over it...it's motherhood...you have that instinct...what's wrong with you." People end up crying out in more covert ways such as the ways in which this woman's family saw this woman change over the past month. And she put something on facebook. As always, none of that matters until after the tragedy because hindsight is 20/20.

I (in addition to some other people) believe that women do not instantly have the maternal instinct beyond the biological and physical requirements for getting pregnant, giving birth (for the women who were pregnant and gave birth to the children), and that "other stuff." In some instances, it only appears that there is a maternal instinct because women learn how to be primary caregivers because they have no choice but to learn. And women tend to act as though motherhood is innate and enjoyable even when many women know that it is a frustrating and lonely experience if women do not have an equal partner with them. Afterall, if more women cried about motherhood and acted how they felt about motherhood, who would pick up the slack for the women who don't have fathers who are more than capable of being primary caregivers (or others who are capable of being caregivers without giving the child up for adoption).

Exactly.

This is sooooooo true.