Nadine Menendez, wife of embattled U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, was involved in a fatal car crash in 2018 prior to marrying the New Jersey Democrat.
According to police reports, Menendez struck and killed 49-year-old Richard Koop with her Mercedes-Benz. The victim had allegedly been jaywalking.
But new questions are being raised following a New York Times report on the incident, which resulted in no charges and was not picked up by media at the time. The revelations are especially important as they help explain one of the bribes alleged in the federal indictment against her and Sen. Menendez.
What happened that night in the borough of Bogota outside New York City was not reported for years, leaving witnesses and Mr. Koop’s family to wonder if the fatal collision was deliberately kept quiet. But now, nearly five years later, the episode adds a startling dimension to a scandal that has shaken American politics, and raised new questions about the senator at its center. [...]
Prosecutors said in those charging papers that Ms. Menendez needed a car so badly after a December 2018 “accident” that the senator, a Democrat, was willing to try to suppress an unrelated criminal prosecution for a New Jersey businessman in exchange for a $60,000 Mercedes convertible. The fatal collision with Mr. Koop on Dec. 12 matches prosecutors’ terse description of the December 2018 crash.
Interviews, police reports, dashcam footage, audio of 911 calls and other records reviewed by The New York Times also raise additional questions about the inquiry into the collision itself, which was reported earlier Wednesday by The Record of New Jersey. The questions include whether Mr. Menendez, a senator long accused of using the levers of government to help his friends, may have made an attempt to intervene.
There were reasons for suspicion at the time. One witness at the scene said in an interview that officers appeared to know who Ms. Menendez was and treated her with striking deference. Police recordings captured the voice of a man who identifies himself as a retired police officer from a nearby department. He can be heard saying he came to the scene as “a favor” to a friend whose wife knew Ms. Menendez. (NYT)
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According to police reports, Menendez was able to leave the scene and was never tested for drugs or alcohol. She also refused to give up her phone. The victim’s family said the way the case was handled left them with the feeling “the whole thing was very silently swept under the rug.” They said they never heard from Menendez or the senator after the fatal accident.
A witness at the scene said cops seemed to know who Ms. Menendez was and treated her with striking deference. In police recordings a man who identifies himself as a retired police officer can be heard saying he came to the scene as “a favor” to a friend https://t.co/JPhtsyuILq? pic.twitter.com/DNBSSRc2DD
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) October 5, 2023
And because the victim always gets forgotten in these stories, this is Richard Koop, 49, father of Jake, who was just 11 when he lost his doting dad. pic.twitter.com/CsdzFe6acF
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) October 5, 2023
🚨Bob Menendez’s wife Nadine Arslanian hit and killed a man while driving her Mercedes in 2018
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 5, 2023
She was found "not at fault" for the incident because the man was jaywalking. She was not given a DUI test at the scene and was immediately allowed to leave after providing a statement pic.twitter.com/D7bpnBWQBC
Menendez and his wife have both pleaded not guilty on bribery charges. An attorney for Mrs. Menendez called the crash a "tragic accident" in a statement to the Times but argued it was not related to the current charges she's facing.
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