Skip to main content

NJ mayor Gina LaPlaca seen stumbling, crying in DUI arrest video

New Jersey mayor Gina LaPlaca was caught staggering and stumbling — at one point even bursting into tears — as officers moved to arrest her for driving drunk with her 2-year-old son in the car earlier this month, newly released video shows.

LaPlaca was arrested on St. Patrick’s Day, after she admitted to drinking alcohol before going to pick up her son from day care.

Bodycam footage of the encounter, obtained by NBC Philadelphia, shows officers approach the 45-year-old Democrat in the driveway of her Lumberton home around 5:40 p.m. while she pulls her toddler from the backseat of her 2019 BMW.

Are you OK?” one officer asks her.

“Yes, I am,” says LaPlaca, who then immediately stumbles.

The officers then explain they got “lots of calls, multiple claims, that you ran a red light and were swerving.” The mayor quickly apologizes, but the officers press on, questioning her about the visible damage to her vehicle, specifically about what happened to the mirror on its passenger’s side.

“I don’t know,” she tells them.

The clip also shows LaPlaca undergoing a field sobriety test, during which she struggles to stand on one foot and maintain her balance in general. She’s then taken into custody, and can be seen tearfully apologizing to the officer helping her into the back of the police cruiser.

A subsequent search of LaPlaca’s vehicle turned up a plastic water bottle filled with vodka as well as a small bottle of liquor, police said.

New Jersey mayor Gina LaPlaca was caught staggering and stumbling at one point even bursting into tears as officers moved to arrest her for driving drunk with her 2-year-old son in the car earlier this month, new police body camera footage shows.
New Jersey mayor Gina LaPlaca was caught staggering and stumbling — at one point even bursting into tears — as officers moved to arrest her for driving drunk with her 2-year-old son in the car earlier this month, new police body camera footage shows.

In the wake of the incident, LaPlaca’s husband, Jason Carty, revealed in a Facebook post that his wife is working on herself and getting help for her issues.

“Millions of Americans struggle with addiction and never get help. Gina LaPlaca is someone who has struggled, and is now getting the help she needs,” he wrote. “I ask that everyone keep her in their thoughts as she moves forward on her road to recovery. Please ignore the exaggerated political hyperbole and keep in mind her passion for helping others. This should not erase all the things she has accomplished for our community.”

LaPlaca has been charged with reckless driving, child neglect and endangerment, driving under the influence, driving with an expired license and related offenses. She has also faced calls to resign as Lumberton Township’s mayor, a post she’s held since 2023.



from New York Daily News https://ift.tt/JczS7sV
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NYPD sergeant wounded in Bronx shooting released from hospital

The Bronx NYPD sergeant wounded during a harrowing police-involved shooting with an armed assailant was released from the hospital Saturday as a group of cops cheered him on. Sgt. Nicholas Novak humbly accepted the applause from the line of NYPD well-wishers as he left Jacobi Hospital , with his pregnant wife by his side. Novak, a 12-year veteran of the department, is currently assigned to the 49th Precinct’s Quality of Life Enforcement Team, or Q-Team, officials said. He and his wife are expecting their third child. NYPD Sgt. Nicholas Novak holds hands with his wife as he leaves Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News) Novak suffered a serious head injury as he and his fellow officers grappled with an armed 18-year-old Antonio Morales, who had just fired off several shots as cops approached, officials said. The violent  confrontation erupted at the teen’s home on E. Gun Hill Road near Hone Ave. in Williamsb...

Marathon hearings conclude in state case against Luigi Mangione for UnitedHealthcare CEO killing

Marathon proceedings in Luigi Mangione’s state homicide case came to a close Thursday, as Manhattan prosecutors and lawyers for the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson rested without calling any more witnesses. The parties won’t learn for some time which positions prevailed, with state Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro asking each side to submit final written arguments and indicating he would rule on Mangione’s motions to suppress evidence central to the prosecution’s case by May 18. The hearings included 17 witnesses and centered on evidence recovered and statements Mangione made to Pennsylvania law enforcement surrounding his arrest five days after Thompson’s killing. Mangione was nabbed at a McDonald’s in the city of Altoona, more than 200 miles from the Hilton hotel in Midtown, outside which the CEO was shot dead Dec. 4, 2024. Notes allegedly found by police in Luigi Mangione's backpack after he was detained at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvani...

Britain is lowering the voting age to 16. It’s getting a mixed reaction

By JILL LAWLESS LONDON (AP) — There has been a mixed reaction in Britain to the government’s announcement that it will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national election . The Labour Party administration says it’s part of a package of changes to strengthen British democracy and help restore trust in politics. The opposition says it’s a power-grab by the left. Experts say it’s complicated, with mixed evidence about how lowering the voting age affects democracy and election outcomes. The biggest change since the 1960s Britain’s voting age last fell in 1969, when the U.K. became one of the first major democracies to lower it from 21 to 18. Many other countries, including the United States, followed suit within a few years. Now the government says it will lower the threshold to 16 by the time the next general election is held, likely in 2029. That will bring the whole country into line with Scotland and Wales, which have semiautonomous governments and already let 1...