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The abusive, deadbeat dad whose girlfriend drowned their three kids and herself by driving into the Hudson is trying to cash in on the tragedy.
Jean Pierre — who was once arrested for unpaid child support and endangering the welfare of one of the tragic kids — filed notice yesterday that he’ll sue the city of Newburgh and Orange County for a mindboggling $80 million for failing to provide barriers that might have prevented the horrific incident.
A distraught LaShanda Armstrong backed the family minivan down a boat ramp April 12 and into the river, killing herself and their three kids, Landen, 5, Lance, 2, and Laianna, 11 months.
The only survivor was Armstrong’s son by another man, LaShaun, 10, who managed to scramble out through a window and swim to shore through a fast-moving current.
“[My] client was devastated by what happened,” Pierre’s lawyer, Stephen Powers, told The Post. “They basically permitted a dangerous and hazardous condition to exist at the ramp.”
The lawyer added that the county also failed to properly assess the living situation at Armstrong’s home before the incident.
Pierre had once been arrested for endangering the welfare of a child after Lance was found wandering the freezing streets near his home alone Super Bowl Sunday while he was supposed to be in the dad’s care.
When Pierre later showed up to talk to Armstrong, he was booted from the home by county authorities.
“They removed my client from the home and left the . . . children with the mother, and we don’t believe they did any investigation,” Powers said.
Armstrong’s friends have said she was a loving mom struggling to do her best — holding down a steady job and taking college courses to better her situation — amid Pierre’s abuse, failure to help support the kids and threats to have the youngsters taken away.
Only an hour before she loaded the kids into the car that fateful night, Pierre was once again at her door pounding and shouting at her, neighbors have said.
After hearing of Pierre’s lawsuit, Armstrong’s furious aunt, Angela Gilliam, told the Middletown Times Herald-Record:
“[Eighty] million? Are you kidding me? Someone should file a claim against him.”
Armstrong’s friend Christine Santos, 29, had told The Post: “[Pierre] was terrible to her.”
Another pal recalled, “He just kept calling her a whore, a slut.”