Tensions erupted today at a private funeral service for three New York children who died after their mother drove their car into the Hudson River.
A relative of the mother walked out of the small funeral home in Spring Valley saying, ‘I don’t care. This side of the family matters.’
Gwendolen Green, a second cousin of the mother, LaShanda Armstrong, said she was kicked out of the service after she stood up for her 17-year-old son who was being ‘manhandled.’
‘The last straw was when they messed with my child,’ she said.
Mrs Armstrong, 25, loaded 5-year-old Landen, 2-year-old Lance, 11-month-old Laianna Pierre and 10-year-old La’Shaun Armstrong into a minivan on April 12 after an argument with Mr Pierre who fathered the three youngest.
She drove down a boat ramp in Newburgh into the river.
The eldest child, La’Shaun, managed to escape the sinking van by clambering through a window and swimming to the shore line.
The soaked and freezing boy was found by a passer and taken to a hospital before he divulged the family’s horrific story.
The service for the three children was held at a Spring Valley funeral home today and was followed by a private family burial in Congers.
Last week, in his first public statement since the tragedy, Mrs Armstrong’s boyfriend Jean Pierre said he thought it would be best for his dead children to be mourned separately – much to the distress of Mrs Armstrong’s family.
