NJ mayor charged with drinking while driving with kid on St. Patrick’s Day

🚨 Lumberton police were sent video showing the mayor driving

🚨 Her 2-year-old son was in a car seat

🚨 An open container of alcohol was found in her car, according to police

This report has been updated with a statement via social media from Mayor LaPlaca's husband

LUMBERTON — The mayor of a Burlington County township was charged with driving under the influence after she admitted to drinking after picking up her 2-year-old son from a child care center on St. Patrick's Day.

According to the complaint and affidavit obtained by New Jersey 101.5, police were provided with video showing Mayor Gina LaPlaca "carelessly driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol" with the toddler secured in a rear car seat.

The video showed LaPlaca driving erratically, not staying in her lane and nearly hitting a utility pole, police said.

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Police located LaPlaca and her vehicle at her home, where she admitted to drinking. She told officers she had just picked her son up from daycare, according to the affidavit.

LaPlaca was also charged with driving with an open container of alcohol or unsealed cannabis in her motor vehicle, careless driving likely to endanger a person or property, reckless driving, crossing over marked lines in traffic, and driving with an expired license. She also faces a charge of abuse/neglect of a child by caretaker and cruelty and neglect of children.

New Jersey Globe was first to report about LaPlaca's arrest.

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Getting help

The documents did not disclose where the video given to police was taken, if she submitted to a breathalyzer test, or the status of her child.

Township officials on Tuesday morning did not respond to New Jersey 101.5's request for comment about the incident.

In a statement on his Facebook page LaPlaca's husband Jason Carty said his wife is "now getting the help she needs" to help with her addiction struggles.

"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," Carty wrote.

The Democrat was elected to the Lumberton Township Committee in 2020. She was reelected in 2023 and appointed mayor in 2023.

LaPlaca is an attorney and the former business administrator for Neptune Township, according to her LinkedIn page. She recently stepped down citing a "changing political environment," according to the Asbury Park Press.

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