Man charged after driving three children into lake

A man who was behind the wheel when a car went into a lake, killing three children strapped inside, has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs.

Maurice Lagrone, 28, also is charged with driving with a suspended licence, State’s Attorney Jerry Johnson said.

Lagrone and his girlfriend, Amanda Hamm, 28, escaped from the car after it went off a boat ramp in Clinton, Illinois, but Hamm’s three children were trapped inside, Sheriff Roger Massey said.

Hamm called emergency services from a pay phone and emergency workers were at the scene in about five minutes, but Christopher, six, and Austin, three, were pronounced dead at a local hospital. Kyleigh Hamm, 23 months, was flown to a hospital but died yesterday.