Really sad and disturbing story out of New York

[transplant99]

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.

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.

Ugh.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/es...#ixzz1JR9xTqyv

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Ugh.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/es...#ixzz1JR9xTqyv

Poor little ####### is just old enough that he will likely spend the rest of his life feeling guilty about not saving his siblings.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Wow. I hate it when stuff like this happens, just friggin' brutal.

[Yasa]

Wow. That's just awful. I don't understand what can drive somebody to do this. But that's the case with pretty much every form of violence. It's going to be a long road for the kid and his father.

[ken0042]

I really wish these murder/suicide people would just switch up the order in which they do the killings.

It's also worth reminding anybody who is on the edge themselves; there is no shame in getting help. And now all you have to do is pick up the phone and call 211.
http://www.211calgary.ca/

[puckluck]

What a sad story. Kids are so damn innocent, just kill yourselves if you don't think you want to live any longer.

Poor kid is going to be scarred for the rest of his life.

[Prototype]

The early story was that the mom let him out of the van down the block. Just a sad scary story all around.

And as most parents have pointed out in previous threads, hard not to think about your kid in that situation. You don't think about the driver, but you think about the kids in the back seat.

Just disturbing, in every sense of the word.

[Flames_Gimp]

sometimes I really wish hell existed!

[Stranger]

These stories make my sick. What did those kids ever do to deserve that.

[robocop]

spewing hatred at psychologically ill people only helps to stigmatize the disorders even further making it even harder for people to reach out for help. Getting mad at the mother instead of trying to talk about it rationally at best does nothing and at worst makes it more probable to happen again.

[metallicat]

Yeah there has to be some sort of serious mental illness behind this tragedy.

[TylerSVT]

Yet the westboro baptist church still remains...

sometimes the world isnt fair.

[oilyfan]

Having 4 kids by the age of 25, the oldest being 11. This was a troubled family from the start.

But what a tragic and sad end, I can't even imagine it. Why take the kids with you?

[Coys1882]

If mentally ill people were thinking rationally enough to just kill themselves and not their children - they wouldn't be suicidal.

Expecting someone mentally ill to be rational or lucid is like expecting an epileptic to not have seizures or someone with heart disease to not have a heart attack.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by robocop

spewing hatred at psychologically ill people only helps to stigmatize the disorders even further making it even harder for people to reach out for help. Getting mad at the mother instead of trying to talk about it rationally at best does nothing and at worst makes it more probable to happen again.

All true, but where I lose that empathy is when they take others with them with fore-thought. This woman knew right from wrong and knew what she was doing was as wrong as it gets. Instead of just jumping in her vehicle and driving off, she loaded up the children including 2 toddlers that likely required kid seats and locking them into what basically amounted to a jail cell once the van hit the water.

Ms. Ryan said that La’Shaun had told her why his mother was so upset. “There was an argument about cheating, that his stepfather was cheating on his mother,” Ms. Ryan said. On the short ride from their apartment in Newburgh to the boat ramp, La’Shaun told Ms. Ryan, his mother had called an older relative and said, “I’m sorry, I’m going to do something crazy, you have to forgive me.”

Ms. Ryan, who described herself as a “stay-at-home mom” who was on the way to see relatives in Fishkill, N.Y., said La’Shaun was clear about what had happened. She said he told her that Ms. Armstrong had grabbed the children as the minivan rolled into the water and said, “If I’m going to die, you’re going to die with me.” She said that La’Shaun broke free, rolled down the window and swam out.

That's unforgivable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/ny...h.html?_r=1&hp

[Locke]

Her insanity is clear and well documented, when someone names all of their kids 'La-something' that should be the first clue.

'Lets call him Shaun.'

'No, no! LA-Shaun!'

[Russic]

Originally Posted by transplant99

All true, but where I lose that empathy is when they take others with them with fore-thought. This woman knew right from wrong and knew what she was doing was as wrong as it gets. Instead of just jumping in her vehicle and driving off, she loaded up the children including 2 toddlers that likely required kid seats and locking them into what basically amounted to a jail cell once the van hit the water.

That's unforgivable.

I disagree. I think it's just too hard to get into the mind of somebody like this unless you've gone through something like it. I can only go off of what I've heard from people who have been there but have been given help. I just don't think it's possible to do something like this without being incredibly sick.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Russic

I disagree. I think it's just too hard to get into the mind of somebody like this unless you've gone through something like it. I can only go off of what I've heard from people who have been there but have been given help. I just don't think it's possible to do something like this without being incredibly sick.

read the linked article...she wasn't "sick" she was pissed off and even tried to stop it after it started.

I understand that truly mentally ill are living in an altered reality, believe me. However, it is a long way from being sick and being unable to comprehend/deal with whats going on around you and being unable to control your own actions. Otherwise we would be having sympathy for rapists, serial killers, pedophiles, animal abusers, child abusers etc.