By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-28 13:46:42 | Updated at 2025-04-03 11:54:43
5 days ago
Shocking police bodycam footage captured the moment a New Jersey mayor was confronted by officers after she drove drunk with her toddler in her BMW.
Gina LaPlaca, 45, the Democrat Mayor of Lumberton, was seen stumbling and slurring her words after she was approached by cops outside her $640,000 home at around 5:40pm on March 17.
An officer spoke to LaPlaca as she picked her young toddler out of her powerful BMW 5-Series sedan, asking her: 'Are you okay?'
'Yes, I am,' she responds, before staggering toward her car almost immediately, as a cop asked about the sedan's ruined passenger wing mirror.
LaPlaca was ordered to take a field sobriety test on the street outside her home, and after being asked what she had drank, she responded: 'A little bit of vodka.'
The mayor was seen struggling to place one foot in front of the other as she failed the sobriety test, before she began weeping as she was placed in handcuffs.
'I'm sorry,' she added to officers, to which one responds: 'That's okay.'
LaPlaca was charged with driving under the influence as she faces calls for her resignation from her Lumberton constituents.
Lumberton Mayor Gina LaPlaca was seen in shocking police bodycam footage stumbling and slurring her words after she was approached by cops outside her home at around 5:40pm on March 17
LaPlaca was so drunk she couldn't walk straight in this segment of the bodycam footage
LaPlaca, 45, the Democrat Mayor of Lumberton, is facing calls for her resignation as she was charged with a DUI, and her husband said she has been admitted to rehab
Police said they confronted LaPlaca at her home after a bystander reported seeing her driving erratically earlier in the afternoon, reports 6ABC.
The witness was seen in bodycam footage telling officers he saw LaPlaca's vehicle swerving off the road, and the footage showed the side wingmirror on the mayor's vehicle had been damaged.
The witness went on to say they grew more concerned after realizing she had a toddler in her backseat.
After the mayor was arrested outside her home, officers searched her vehicle and found a small liquor bottle and a water bottle with alcohol in it.
She had reportedly told officers that she had just come back home from picking up her two-year-old from daycare.
Shortly after her arrest, LaPlaca's husband Jason Carty said she was seeking treatment for addiction in rehab.
LaPlaca's husband Jason Carty (pictured together) said his wife has entered rehab, saying: 'Unfortunately, you have to hit rock bottom before you get better. This is obviously rock bottom'
LaPlaca was seen struggling to put one foot in front of the other as she failed her field sobriety test, before she wept as she was handcuffed and put into a police cruiser
Police said they confronted LaPlaca at her home after a bystander reported seeing her driving erratically, and the side wingmirror on her vehicle was damaged in the footage
LaPlaca appeared emotional as she was detained earlier this month
He told Asbury Park Press that his wife was on her 'first step on her road to recovery', adding: 'This is not a political issue. This is not a Republican or Democrat (issue), it is a human being issue.
'People suffer from addiction and many people don't get help. She is finally getting the help she needs... unfortunately you have to hit rock bottom before you get better. This is obviously rock bottom.'
LaPlaca was elected to the Township Committee in Lumberton in 2020 and re-elected in 2023, however her arrest came just a week after she resigned as business administrator in neighboring Neptune Township.
She had previously been arrested at her home in 2023 after she was accused of assaulting her husband, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.
Charges against her were later dismissed and the arrest was expunged from her record, with Carty later saying he took responsibility for the incident.
LaPlaca is facing calls for her resignation from Lumberton residents, and a township committee meeting days after her arrest saw locals furiously demand she steps aside.
One resident reportedly told the meeting that LaPlaca was 'compromising the position of our law enforcement.'
'I'm asking for a motion that you deem her noncompetent and remove her from town council,' the resident said, per 6ABC.
LaPlaca, a Democrat, pictured with former presidential candidate and Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
Another said: 'I'm asking you guys to do the right thing if she's not going to do the right thing, and she needs to resign.
'If she is definitely truly saying she needs to get the help that she needs, she needs to be the best version of herself before she can be a mayor.'
One of the members of the committee, Terrance Benson, joined the calls for LaPlaca to resign, saying: 'My personal opinion is for the mayor to step down and to heal herself.'
LaPlaca is next due in court on April 28.
The mayor's office and Lumberton Township did not immediately respond to requests for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com
