Just step back. >> Hey everybody. >> I know that's okay. >> If you refuse to ride samples of your breath, you'll be issued a separate summon for for refusal. >> The woman you're watching stumble across this driveway isn't some random driver. She's the mayor. The officers walking toward her. They work for her town. And the number she's about to blow on that breath test [music] is so high they won't even put her in a cell. They'll drive her straight to a hospital. [music] But here's what nobody watching this footage could have predicted. Everything that follows, the failed tests, the eight charges, the governor of New Jersey demanding she step down. None of it ends the way you think it will because 14 months later, she'd [music] be pulled over again. This is the story of Gina Llaca and it begins of all days on St. Patrick's Day. [music] Route 38, Lumberton, New Jersey. Late afternoon, March 17th. Behind one particular BMW, another driver starts to feel his stomach drop. The car ahead of him isn't [music] just drifting. It's swerving across the lane line, wandering onto the grass, correcting hard, then doing [music] it again. At one point, it comes so close to a utility pole that he's certain he's about to watch a crash. So, he does [music] what most of us would hope someone would do. He pulls out his phone, starts recording, and calls [music] the police. Now, dispatch runs the plate, and somewhere in that process, [music] this stops being a routine drunk driving call. Because the registered owner of that BMW isn't on her way home from a St. Patrick's [music] Day party, she's the sitting mayor of the town, these officers are sworn to serve. And right now, she's on her way to pick up her 2-year-old son. 5:26 p.m. Three officers, Pascal, Rodriguez, and Sergeant Soliv, pull up outside a home in Lumberton. And I want you to think about how strange this moment is for them. Every cop dreads the traffic stop where they recognize the driver. These three are about to confront the person who sits at the top of their entire township. The body cams are rolling as they walk up the driveway. And there she is, Gina Llaka, 45 years old, reaching into the back seat, [music] getting her toddler out of the car. She's not hiding. She's not running. Honestly, she seems almost casual about the whole thing. Like this is just a neighbor stopping by. >> What? >> I said our cameras are on camera. You all right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. We're just getting reports that you swerving all over the road. Yeah. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> You all right? >> Yes. >> Hi. [music] >> School, honey. >> Are you okay? >> Yes, I am. Go to the house, buddy. >> You all right? Yes, I am. >> I'm struggling to stand a little bit. >> All good, thank you. >> You okay? >> Yes, I am. All right. You >> sure? Have you had any take a drink or anything? >> No, I'm good. >> I'm just watching the kid. >> We got We got lots of calls. We had multiple >> really >> that you ran a red light and you're swearing. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> What happened to your mirror here? >> Uh, that's not good. >> What happened? [music] >> Was it like this? Yeah, that's similar. >> What about this here? [music] >> Did you hit something on the way here? >> Yeah. >> Where'd you hit? Where at? >> I don't know. >> What do you mean you don't know? Where you come from? >> Um, from school. >> School? Where's Where's the school? >> The officers know better. They were sent here by a witness who watched this exact car nearly wrap itself around a pole minutes earlier with that child in the back seat the entire time. The conversation starts politely. She tells them she just picked her son up from school. And then, and this is the part that gets me, when they ask whether she's had anything to drink today, she [music] admits it right away. >> Have you had anything to drink? >> Yeah. >> Where? >> It's all right. I mean, luckily you're [music] not hurt or anything like that. >> No. >> All right. So, would you mind doing some some test for us? Pardon me. >> Would you mind doing some tests for us? >> Sure. >> We We have to do our job. >> Is there anyone inside the house? >> No. Uh [music] working. So, >> okay. >> Where do you mind putting that purse down when we do these tests? >> Where uh >> where were you coming from? the school. >> Okay. >> No lawyer instincts, [music] no careful wording from a woman who holds public office. Then an officer points to the passenger side of her BMW. The mirror is destroyed, hanging, and he asks the [music] obvious question, "What happened here?" She looks at it and she has no idea, no memory of hitting anything. None. [music] Think about that for a second. The damage is right there on her own car, fresh, and the person who was driving it [music] cannot tell you where it came from. When officers look inside the vehicle, it gets worse. A water bottle that doesn't contain water and a small liquor bottle riding along on the same trip as a 2-year-old. The officers ask her to perform standardized field sobriety exercises [music] right there on her own property in front of the house she comes home to as mayor. Right. I want you to take a look at the tip of my pen. Okay. >> Okay. And just follow it with your eyes. Don't move your head. Okay. >> Okay. 277 in the area. Okay. Keep looking. Okay. And you start the test until I tell you to do so. Okay. You're going to put You're going to stand with your feet together like this. Okay. Hands down at your side. You're going to put your left foot in front of your right foot. Okay. Just like this. Heel to toe. Okay. All right. You're just going to stay in that position. I'm going to explain explain the uh and demonstrate the test and then um and then we'll go from there. Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. You understand so far? >> Yep. >> Okay. So, what you're going to do from that position, you're going to take nine heel to toe steps going forward counting out loud. 1 2 3 so on and so forth. When you get to step nine, you're going to take a series. You're going to leave your front foot forward. Take a series of small steps. Turn around. Take nine heel to toe steps back. 1 2 3 until you get to nine. You can keep your hands down at your side, look down at your feet, >> and count the numbers out loud. Nine going down, nine coming back. Okay, >> you understand the instructions? >> Yes. >> You may be good. Sorry. >> It's okay. Okay. Did you hit nine yet? That was okay. You want to take You want to take nine steps coming back? You okay? Okay. All right. Stop. All right. The next test we're going to do is the one leg stand. Okay. >> Okay. >> What you're going to do is you're going to stand with your hands at your side, >> your feet together, just like you do now. Don't start the test till I tell you do so. >> Don't start until I tell you to do so. What you're going to do is you're going to lift any [music] any foot of your choice up approximately 6 in off the ground. Okay? You're going to keep your foot parallel to the ground like that. You're going to look down at your toe. Don't start until I tell you. It's okay. >> Sorry. >> You're look down at your toe. You're going to count 1,00 1,002 1,003 1,004 so on and so forth until I tell you to stop. >> Okay. So, again, just to recap, you're going to have your hands down at your side, feet together. Pick one leg up, any leg your your choice, up six inches off the ground. Count 10,00 one 10 1002 all the way uh until I tell you to stop. I'm gonna I'm gonna time it in just one second. Okay. >> And what the [music] cameras capture next is the reason this footage traveled across the entire country. She can barely stand still during the instructions. Watch her feet. She's swaying before the test even begins. Catching herself resetting, losing the position again. When she finally attempts the walk and turn, it falls apart almost immediately. steps off the line, arms out for balance like she's on a tight rope. The officer patiently explains it again. It doesn't help. >> You may begin. Don't forget to count them out loud. Remember, hands down your side. >> Sorry. It's >> okay. >> Okay, you can stop. 13 fixing of the allocation. >> How far how far out is uh >> um he's at work? Yeah. Ewing. So like 45 minutes. >> Okay. >> Her words are running together now, thick and slow, and every attempt to steady [music] herself just makes the next wobble bigger. I've watched a lot of these tests. There's usually a moment where you can tell the driver knows it's over, where the performance drops, [music] and something like resignation sets in. With her, that moment never comes. She keeps trying to hold it together, [music] keeps talking as if composure alone might outrank the evidence. It doesn't. >> All right. So, uh, I mean, that's just just not, you know, being honest with you. So, I mean, how much has you had to drink today? >> I don't know. >> All right. What What did you drink? >> Vodka. >> Okay. >> Sorry. It's Look, it's We're just doing our stuff. >> No, I know you are. >> All right. So, like this time we have to place driving. >> And then the handcuffs come out. The mayor of Lumberton arrested in her own driveway by her own police department. That's it. >> Promising a guy. Yeah. >> Sorry. Do you want my car? >> 1330. Can I have one female custody? >> You want my car? Yep. Come on. >> Do you have anything in your pocket for anything? >> I'm going to do a light search. >> That'll be okay. Go around to the other side. Go around to the other side cuz there's some right here. She's crying [music] as they walk her to the patrol car, unsteady, even with an officer guiding her arm. You can hear it in the audio. This isn't defiance. It's disbelief. Somewhere between the car door and the back seat. The reality is landing. There is no version of this evening that stays private. [music] 3413 clears almost turn 12 not again just >> I know that's okay. Her son was handed into safe care. Her BMW was photographed and towed. And the footage capturing all of it was now an official government record, [music] which meant that eventually legally anyone could request it. At the Lumberton Police Station, something happens that tells you more about this [music] story than any breath test ever could. >> Just watch your step. >> Sorry. >> It's all right. Take your time. >> Separating. You want to straight back? >> Yeah. >> Just take a seat on the bench. Now, you can stand up. I'm going to get you out of the cuffs. You just You can leave those shoes on, but you're going to have to pop them off just to show up on the man. You can take a seat on the bench. You can throw them back on. Um, you don't have anything in your pockets. I know I already checked, but you're no belt. No. >> All right. >> Your left hand. >> Take that right off for me, too. >> Wait, where's my son? >> He's with your neighbor. >> Okay. >> Sorry. It's >> all right. During processing, she asks the officers to call Chief Anthony Nippens by name, [music] not a lawyer, not her husband, the chief of police, and she doesn't ask once. [music] Reports say she made that request multiple times. Put yourself in the shoes of the officers in that room. Your boss's boss is sitting in processing, [music] intoxicated, repeatedly invoking the one name that's supposed to make problems in this building disappear. All right. So, you've been arrested for driving while intoxicated. The law requires that you submit samples of your breath for purpose of testing to determine alcohol content. A record of taking a record of the taking of the breath samples includes test results will be made. Upon your request, a copy of that record will be made available to you. After you have provided samples of your breath for testing, you have the right at your own expense to have a person or physician of your own selection or independent samples of your breath, blood, or return for independent testing. If you refuse to ride samples of your breath, you will be issued a separate summon for refusal. A court may find you guilty of both refusal and driving while intoxicated. Do you understand that? If a court finds you guilty of refusal, you will be subject to various penalties, including license revoking, revion up to 20 years, a fine up to $2,000, installation of ignition, interlock, and referral to an intoxicated driver resource center. >> These penalties may not be in addition to penalties imposed by the court for any other offense of which you are found guilty. You are you have no legal right to have an attorney uh physician or anyone else present for the purpose of taking the breath samples. You have no legal right to refuse to give or delay giving samples of your breath. Any response from you that ambiguous or conditional, sorry, in any respect to my request that you provide breath samples, you will be treated as a refusal to submit breath testing. Even if you agree to take the test, but then do not follow my instructions, do not properly perform the test or do not provide sufficient breath samples, I will charge you with the refusal to submit breath breath testing. I repeat the laws. The law requires you to submit samples of your breath for testing. Will you submit samples of your breath? >> Let's call it please. >> So you do you do you do want to submit breath? >> Yes. I'll always please can you please follow? >> Whatever she expected that [music] phone call to accomplish, it never came. The paperwork moved forward like it would for anyone else. And that detail, the reaching for rank in the middle of an arrest, is exactly why cases like this one ignite the way they do. Because everyone watching asks [music] the same quiet question. If the officers hadn't been wearing cameras, would it have worked? Then the breath [music] test result comes back. 308. The legal limit in New Jersey is 08. She wasn't slightly over. She wasn't double. She was nearly four times the legal limit. A level where medical professionals start worrying about alcohol poisoning. Not just impairment. In fact, the reading was so high that police didn't hold her at the station. They took her to a hospital for evaluation first and only later released her to her husband. >> Mhm. Just letting you know my body camera is on. I'm going to explain all your citations today. You're all you're going to have a court appearance for all of them. So, I know it says in some of these for pay, you can pay them. Don't pay. You have the court date on here at the bottom. Has all the information on there. Um, you're obviously getting 450 drive while intoxicated. Um, and then your license was expired. Your driver's license is expired. So, you're getting a citation for that. and the open container in your vehicle. You had a water bottle filled with alcohol in it and then you had a little shot glass, whatever it was. Um, and then we received multiple videos of you swerving in and out of traffic or breaking the center line, the fog line. So, you're getting a ticket for that. Um, then careless driving and reckless driving. All right. >> So, these are all good. These are all going to go to the hospital. And then this is well this is just the copy of your blood alcohol level. Okay. >> So this is the report here. And you have her driver's license. >> Thank you. >> Do you have that? >> Yeah. >> What is that? >> I get a receipt. Do you have a receipt for her? >> I'm just going to fold this. The wedding room in this bag. >> Okay. >> Okay. Make sure everything's there for you. And then there's a phone number for you on the bottom. >> Phone number. Okay. Right there. Yep. >> Let that sink in. The driver who had just carried a toddler down Route 38 [music] was intoxicated enough to require medical supervision. The charges landed like dominoes. [music] driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving, failure to maintain her lane, open container, driving on an expired license, [music] and the two that changed everything, endangering the welfare of a child [music] and cruelty and neglect of children. 11 days later, the body cam footage was released through a public records request, [music] and Lumberton's private embarrassment became national news overnight. The pressure that followed was extraordinary. Governor Phil Murphy, a member of her own party, [music] publicly called on her to resign. Residents packed the township committee meeting demanding [music] the same. Even Terrence Benson, who had once been her running mate, joined the calls for her to step aside. Her husband, Jason Cardi, a firefighter with 25 years of service, posted a statement [music] asking the public for compassion and confirmed she had entered inatient treatment for addiction. And through all of it, the governor, the neighbors, [music] the headlines, she gave one consistent answer. No, [music] she would not resign. Her lawyers applied for something called pre-trial intervention, a program that lets firsttime defendants avoid a conviction entirely. And at first, the system pushed back hard. The court's criminal case management office denied the application outright. Headlines across New Jersey framed it the same way. No special treatment for the mayor. For a moment, it looked like she'd faced the full weight of every charge. But this is where the story takes the turn nobody in those comment sections saw [music] coming. Months later, she stood before a judge and pleaded guilty to the DWI and to a fourthderee child neglect offense and in exchange 3 years of pre-trial intervention. The very outcome the court had blocked before. Her license was suspended. An ignition interlock went on her car. She completed an outpatient program for alcoholism. [music] And if she keeps every condition for 3 years, the child neglect conviction effectively never follows her. One misstep, though, [music] and she gets sentenced on it. So where is she now? Gone from public life, you'd assume. Not [music] quite. She lost the mayor's title. Terren Benson, the colleague who called for her resignation, [music] holds it today. But Gina Lllaca never left the government. She still sits on the Lumberton Township Committee. [music] And this year, she is actively campaigning for reelection, asking the same residents who watched this footage to hand her another term. But there's one more chapter. This May, [music] in neighboring Mount Holly, police stopped a car and cited the driver for operating on a suspended license. A suspension that existed because of a guilty plea [music] in a drunk driving case. The driver was Gina Llaca. her public response. She said she was quote not too concerned about it and [music] dismissed the whole thing as a technical issue with the motor vehicle records. Maybe it was. Her side says the suspension period had already expired. But after everything you've just watched, the poll, the mirror she couldn't remember breaking the 308, the child in the back seat, I'll leave you with the question her own voters are facing right now. When someone shows you how they handle a second chance, do you give them a third? Tell me what you do in the comments. [music] [music]