The Delaware woman that drove her car into a New Jersey hospital on New Year’s Eve had called authorities earlier in the night asking for help, according to police.

The 38-year-old woman from New Castle, Delaware, said that she called New Jersey State Police in Seabrook earlier in the night asking to be admitted to the hospital for a “crisis” after she was upset with her mother-in-law, authorities wrote in a warrant for her arrest.

When police responded, the woman declined to be taken to the hospital and stated she did not want to be transported to the hospital, but wanted to drive herself with an escort, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Once state police left, she found the keys to her car and struck two other vehicles in Seabrook before driving to Bridgeton to find help, she told police after she was arrested.

The woman told police she saw the Inspira hospital and thinking no one would help her, decided to drive her car through the double door entrance to the emergency room hoping to knock herself unconscious.

The incident happened around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday and the woman’s car reached about 60 feet down a hallway and almost struck a security guard, Bridgeton police said Wednesday.

Authorities said the woman exited the car and was taken to another area of the hospital where she waited for authorities to arrive and was uncooperative, according to charging documents.

A state police spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

The hospital security guard suffered a minor injury jumping out of the way of the vehicle, according to an Inspira spokesperson.

No one was else was injured, authorities said. The woman was charged with assault by motor vehicle, endangering others and third-degree criminal mischief, according to court documents.

The damage to the hospital was estimated at over $135,000 and ambulances were rerouted away from the hospital until about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to allow authorities to secure the damaged entrance and establish a new temporary entrance, the spokesperson for the hospital said.

The woman did not have an attorney listed in court records as of Thursday.

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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Matt on X

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Shortly after Gloucester County, New Jersey resident Jackie Mancinelli was hired as a high school English teacher in Camden County in 2014, she suffered a miscarriage late in her first trimester.

After the miscarriage was confirmed by an ultrasound test, she returned to work the next day as if nothing had happened, because she said she felt nervous to take time off.

“I really struggled to get through the school day, I broke down crying in front of my students and it was really difficult, and no one in my building had any idea what was happening,” Mancinelli said.

Two years later, the Voorhees teacher had an emergency cesarean section after carrying her baby for 33 weeks, but the child only lived for one hour after being born.

Mancinelli was distraught, but under New Jersey law, if a baby dies, the parent is no longer eligible to take family leave time off, because the law stipulates you can only care for another, not yourself.

She used sick time and unpaid leave to take a break from her job and was forced to take a custodial job cleaning classrooms over the summer to make ends meet.

In 2021, she founded Start Healing Together, a nonprofit organization that advocates for workplace rights for grieving families experiencing pregnancy loss, infertility and adoption loss.

“Their worlds are falling apart, the idea of having to return to work just to earn a paycheck to pay bills. It’s really inhumane,” she said.

Mancinelli then worked with Assemblywoman Shanique Speight on legislation to provide bereavement leave for those dealing with this kind of loss.

“If you want that employee to come back strong, you definitely want to give them time to properly grieve,” Speight said.

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