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“Why was the guy in the middle of the street? I didn’t do anything wrong, you know?” Arslanian said to police, according to the dashboard camera video obtained by NBC News.
Bob Menendez’s wife struck and killed pedestrian in New Jersey in 2018
The wife and co-defendant of the indicted US senator Bob Menendez struck and killed a pedestrian in 2018, according to newly released police records.
Gold bars and stacks of cash: how Bob Menendez ended up charged with briberyNadine Arslanian Menendez was behind the steering wheel of a car at the center of a fatal crash which took place on 12 December 2018, the New York Times and the Record newspaper of Bergen, New Jersey, first reported.
Arslanian, as she went by before her marriage, never faced charges for the deadly crash in Bogota, New Jersey. In fact, shortly after the wreck, Arslanian and Bob Menendez were given a brand-new luxury car as a gift.
Arslanian struck and killed 49-year-old Richard Koop.
According to police records, Koop was killed almost instantly after being hit by Arslanian.
He was found lying in the road with a number of serious injuries, including “severe head trauma” and “possible fractured legs and arms”, NBC News reported.
Arslanian reportedly hit a parked car after hitting Koop and was “bleeding from her hands”, police records said.
“Why was the guy in the middle of the street? I didn’t do anything wrong, you know?” Arslanian said to police, according to the dashboard camera video obtained by NBC News.
A police report on the crash stated that Arslanian was “not at fault” for the accident because Koop was “jaywalking and did not cross the street at an intersection or in a marked crosswalk,” NBC reported.
But witnesses of the exchange between Arslanian and police said officers appeared to recognize her, and treated her differently, the Times reported.
There is no record showing whether police asked Arslanian if she had consumed drugs or alcohol. Arslanian also reportedly did not receive a sobriety test.
Arslanian did not face any charges in connection with Koop’s death.
Four months after the crash, Arslanian and Menendez received a brand-new Mercedes-Benz convertible from Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman who was charged by federal authorities alongside the senator and his wife in September.
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Arslanian Menendez had been complaining to Hana about the whereabouts of her car after the crash. The vehicle gift is valued at $60,000, the Times reported.
The crash is part of a larger inquiry into Nadine and Bob Menendez over bribery and corruption allegations.
Bob Menendez is accused of using his position in the US Senate and as chairperson of the foreign relations committee to benefit the government of Egypt.
An indictment obtained by federal prosecutors in New York City alleges that between 2018 and 2022, Bob Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Egyptian-American businessmen in exchange for helping them grow their businesses while avoiding legal issues.
Arslanian and Menendez began dating in 2018 and married in October 2020.
They have both pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges filed against them.
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Nadine Arslanian Menendez, whose Mercedes was severely damaged, was not taken into custody or tested for drugs and alcohol, according to The Record.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), left, and his wife Nadine Menendez arrive to the federal courthouse in New York on Sept. 27, 2023. | Jeenah Moon/AP Photo
By Matt Friedman 10/04/2023 11:28 AM EDT Updated: 10/04/2023 01:04 PM EDTNadine Arslanian Menendez, the wife and co-defendant of recently indicted Sen. Robert Menendez , struck and killed a man while driving in New Jersey in 2018, according to media reports.
Nadine, whose Mercedes was severely damaged, was not taken into custody or tested for drugs and alcohol, according to The Record. She was later joined at the scene by a retired cop from nearby Hackensack who told police that he didn’t know her but he was doing her a favor because she was a friend of his friend’s wife, according to The New York Times.
Koop’s sister, Rosemarie Koop-Angelicola, told The New York Times that they never heard from Nadine Menendez or the senator, and suspected that the case was deliberately kept quiet.
“Definitely a lack of legal enthusiasm to take this case, definite lack of media coverage, and a lack of communication by the authorities of Bergen County. We felt that the whole thing was very silently swept under the rug,” she said.
Responding to the report Wednesday, Menendez said “that was a tragic accident and obviously we think of the family.”
Municipal court records available online show Nadine Menendez has a history of several traffic offenses, most recently pleading guilty in Tenafly municipal court in 2021 to using a handheld phone while driving and paying $240 in penalties and fees. She was charged with the same offense in Englewood in 2016, though records say it was dismissed as part of a plea agreement and do not indicate what if any penalty she faced. In 2012, she pleaded guilty to “failure to observe traffic control device,” paying $85. She was charged with the same offense in Jersey City in 2005, though records were not immediately available on the disposition of the case. In 2007, she pleaded guilty to improper passing in East Rutherford Municipal court and paid $85 in fines and fees.
Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
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