Menendez’s wife struck and killed a man while driving in 2018, reports indicate

Nadine 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.

The Record and The New York Times, citing police reports and police dash cam video, reported that Nadine Menendez, who was dating the senator at the time, was found by police in the small borough of Bogota to be “not at fault” in the crash in the because the victim, Richard Koop, was jaywalking. She was allowed to leave the scene.

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.

The accident, though not its circumstances, was mentioned in the indictment against the senator, his wife and three co-defendants: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes. According to the indictment, Uribe, a businessperson, financed a new Mercedes for Nadine Menendez in exchange for the senator’s attempts to interfere in an unrelated state criminal case against Uribe by pressuring prosecutors.

There’s no indication that Sen. Menendez’s name came up during the police investigation of the crash, though a witness at the scene told The New York Times that “there appeared to be a lot of secrecy” and that he heard Nadine Menendez repeatedly tell officers she was going to call someone.

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.