This story really hurt my heart — and it’s difficult to even write about it now!
By now, you’ve heard the story of 25-year-old Lashonda Armstrong of Newburgh, NY, who was so distraught over a fight with her boyfriend, that she drove herself and her 3 children into the Hudson River to end all of their lives. Except her oldest son, 10-year-old Lashaun Armstrong, wasn’t yet ready to die!
Realizing the desperate situation, young Lashaun was able to free himself from the vehicle as it sank deeper into the river. He then courageously swam to the shore and spent several minutes trying to flag down someone driving by for help. Despite seeing a scared and wet little boy alone on a busy highway, surprisingly, no one stopped to help. But when Meave Ryan noticed the shivering boy yelling and screaming, “Help me, help me, please help me,” she immediately let the boy into her car and tried to look for survivors where the vehicle sank.
Lashaun told Ryan that his mother drove the vehicle off the dock, then went into the backseat and cradled all her children in her arms, saying, ‘If I’m going to die, … you’re all going to die with me.'” Lashaun said he resisted and broke free, yelling out the window for help. But at that moment, the mother seemed to have a moment of regret, as she cried out, “Oh my God, I made a mistake.” So she climbed back into the front seat and tried to put the car in reverse to pull it out of the water. But it was too late. Lashaun’s mother, 2-year-old brother Lance and 11-month-old sister Laianna all perished in the murky waters of the Hudson. According to Ryan, Lashaun repeatedly thank her more than a dozen times for stopping to help him.
As if this story couldn’t get any sadder, Lashaun now blames himself for the deaths. He learned to swim last summer and he thinks if only he could have taught his little brother to swim too, maybe at least one more could have been saved!
Young Lashaun will need a whole lot of love and professional counseling from his ordeal. But he is such a brave little man, we can all only hope and pray for him to heal from all of this and to have an amazing life ahead of him.
"Young Lashaun will need a whole lot of love and professional counseling from his ordeal.'You're absolutely right DJ. And that (the guilt the he'll most likely carry the rest of his life to say nothing of the FLASHBACKS he could also suffer) is what makes this story all the more tragic. But I also have a BIGGER concern…that being the question of how many MORE Lashonda Armstrong's are walking around out there SUFFERING IN SILENCE and on the verge of a complete mental breakdown!?! If_and that's a big IF__this sad story prompts an Open and Honest discussion in the Black community regarding the *tabbo* subject of Mental Health and seeking MH treatment then this young woman's death (and that of her 3 children) will not be in vain.