Police bodycam footage allegedly shows officers confronting a New Jersey mayor for driving under the influence with her toddler in the car.
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Gina LaPlaca, the Democratic Mayor of Lumberton, was observed stumbling and slurring her words when police approached her outside her home around 5:40 p.m. on March 17.
According to 6ABC, police approached LaPlaca, 45, after a bystander reported witnessing her driving erratically earlier that afternoon.
The footage shows an officer speaking with LaPlaca as she lifts her young toddler from her sleek BMW 5-Series sedan.
“Are you OK?” the officer asks.
“Yes, I am,” she managed to respond, before unsteadily making her way toward her car. A police officer, noticing the sedan’s damaged passenger-side mirror, questions her about it.
LaPlaca was instructed to perform a field sobriety test on the street outside her home. When asked about her alcohol consumption, she admitted, “A little bit of vodka.”
Bodycam footage captured the bystander who alerted police, explaining to officers that he had observed LaPlaca’s vehicle swerving off the road. The footage also revealed that the side mirror on the mayor’s car was damaged.
The witness expressed growing concern upon noticing a toddler in the backseat of her car.
Following the mayor’s arrest outside her home, officers conducted a search of her vehicle. They reportedly discovered a small liquor bottle along with a water bottle containing alcohol. According to reports, she informed the officers that she had just returned from picking up her two-year-old from daycare.
Following her arrest, LaPlaca’s husband, Jason Carty, revealed that she had entered rehab to seek treatment for addiction.
This Isn’t the New Jersey Mayor’s First Brush with the Law
LaPlaca, first elected to the Lumberton Township Committee in 2020 and re-elected in 2023, was arrested just a week after stepping down from her role as business administrator in neighboring Neptune Township.
According to the Democrat and Chronicle, she was previously arrested at her home in 2023 following allegations of assaulting her husband.
The charges against her were eventually dismissed, and the arrest was expunged from her record. Carty later took responsibility for the incident.
Following her arrest, LaPlaca is under mounting pressure from Lumberton residents to resign. During a recent township committee meeting, locals passionately called for her to step down.
A resident at the meeting allegedly stated that LaPlaca was undermining the integrity of our law enforcement.
“I’m asking for a motion that you deem her noncompetent and remove her from town council,” the resident insisted, per 6ABC.
“‘I’m asking you guys to do the right thing if she’s not going to do the right thing. She needs to resign,” another local said.
LaPlaca is scheduled to appear in court on April 28.