Fire Chief Michael Vatter said a passerby helped the young boy.
“Approximately 10 minutes to eight [Tuesday] evening, a 10-year-old boy and a woman came to the firehouse to report a car in the water at the foot of Washington Street, it drove into the river off of the boat ramp,” he said. “We subsequently learned that the young man, who was soaking wet, was the La’Shaun Armstrong and was a passenger in the car and escaped after the car went into the water.”
Police Chief Michael Ferrara said had the child not freed himself and perished along with the rest of his family, they would have been listed as missing persons because of the murky water of the river masking any sign of the vehicle, he said.
The victims have been identified as LaShanda Armstrong, 25, and her children, Landen Pierre, 5, Lance Pierre, 2, and 11-month-old Lainaina Pierre. Jean Pierre, the father of the three children who perished, did not live with the rest of the family at 53 William Street. That home is across the street from 56 William Street where one-year-old Natali Vaquero Mendoza died in a fire on March 18.
Police were called to the residence at 7:45 p.m. by a family member reporting a possible verbal confrontation. When they got there, no one was home. The plunge into the river was reported shortly after 8 p.m.
