The husband of New Jersey Lumberton Township Mayor Gina LaPlaca is asking the public to go easier on his wife after she was arrested for drunk driving with their young son in the car. The incident happened on March 17, 2025, and it has caused a lot of debate in their small New Jersey town, with people strongly disagreeing about what should happen next.
On St. Patrick’s Day, someone saw Mayor LaPlaca driving in a dangerous way and called the police. Body camera video from the officers who responded supposedly shows her swerving on the road and almost hitting a utility pole. When police arrived at her home, they found her two-year-old son buckled into a car seat.
Tests suggested she was impaired, and when they searched her car, they reportedly found an open water bottle and a small bottle of alcohol. The mayor was arrested and charged with drunk driving, reckless driving, and putting her child in danger. She was let go with a notice to appear in court on April 28, 2025. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that her husband said, “Lumberton has only 13,000 people. All I want is for my wife to get better and for everyone to leave her alone.”
New Jersey mayor arrested for DWI—again
This wasn’t the first time Mayor LaPlaca had been in trouble recently. Earlier in March, a video went online showing her in a loud, angry argument at a fire commissioners’ meeting in Mount Holly. The fight started because people were criticizing her husband, Jason Carty, about his promotion to captain of the Ewing Township Fire Department.
In the video, LaPlaca used swear words and was eventually removed from the meeting by police. Because of this, she later quit her job as business administrator for Neptune Township, a position she had held since January 2022.
After the drunk driving arrest, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy publicly asked Mayor LaPlaca to resign as mayor, saying the charges were too serious and that she should focus on getting better. However, LaPlaca refused to step down. In an email, she said the town should be more kind and understanding toward people trying to improve themselves.
This decision made many people even angrier, and a crowd showed up at a township committee meeting to criticize her. The Inquirer reported that one committee member, Terrance Benson, agreed with the governor and said LaPlaca should resign to focus on her recovery.
The township committee later formally criticized Mayor LaPlaca for what they said were ethics violations connected to the incident. These included trying to call the police chief during her arrest, putting her child at risk, and driving drunk. A formal criticism like this is a strong statement of disapproval, but it doesn’t force her out of office.
Her husband also shared that Mayor LaPlaca is currently in a treatment facility for addiction. She apparently missed her son’s third birthday while getting help.
Published: Apr 8, 2025 09:20 am