Current:Home > Contact-usReport of fatal New Jersey car crash fills in key gap in Menendez federal bribery investigation-LoTradeCoin
Report of fatal New Jersey car crash fills in key gap in Menendez federal bribery investigation
View Date:2024-12-23 23:51:11
BOGOTA, N.J. (AP) — The then-future wife of powerful U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, Nadine Menendez, killed a man with her car in December 2018 and was sent from the scene without being charged, according to new details that match an auto “accident” that prosecutors cite in their sweeping federal indictment of the pair as a pivotal motivation for one of the senator’s alleged bribes.
Richard Koop, 49, was in front of his Bogota, New Jersey, home when he was killed almost instantly around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 12, 2018, according to details of a police investigation first reported Wednesday by The Record of New Jersey. Relatives and friends of Koop told The New York Times that Koop had left a bar in an rideshare that dropped him off across the street from his apartment.
A Bogota Police Department report said Nadine Menendez, who wasn’t yet married to the senator at the time and went by Nadine Arslanian, “was not at fault in this crash. Mr. Koop was jaywalking and did not cross the street at an intersection or in a marked crosswalk.” There is no evidence in the file of her being screened for drugs or alcohol.
A lawyer for Nadine Menendez, David Schertler, did not immediately respond to a message left Thursday by The Associated Press. The AP also asked a spokesperson in Menendez’s office to pass along a message requesting comment from her.
In dashcam video recorded at the scene, Nadine Menendez is heard asking officers why Koop was in the road. She tells police that she “didn’t do anything wrong.” In her police interview, she said that Koop “ran across the roadway and jumped onto the hood” of her car. A spokesperson for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said Bogota police asked the county to help with the investigation, but only after the local officials had determined it was not a criminal case.
Koop’s sister, Rosemarie Koop-Angelicola, told the AP on Thursday that her family has questions about the whether the death was fully investigated.
“We understand that true accidents happen,” she said. “We’re willing to accept that, but only with a full and proper investigation. There’s gaping holes in this.”
Koop-Angelicola said her brother, who worked a variety of jobs, including in construction, was friendly, funny and talkative — and coached his son’s youth soccer teams.
“Rich was about the nicest, down-to-earth person you’d ever meet,” she said.
The vehicle, a black Mercedes-Benz sedan, was left with a shattered windshield and a front end that had been badly damaged by hitting Koop and a nearby parked car, according to the report.
She texted Wael Hana, one of three businessman also indicted alongside the senator and his wife in the alleged bribery scheme, about a month later regarding her lack of a vehicle, according to the federal indictment in New York.
Prosecutors said that Nadine Menendez’s need of a car was so acute that the senator — who married her in October 2020 — acted to try to suppress an unrelated criminal prosecution for a New Jersey businessman in exchange for a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible, which she signed papers for in April 2019.
The senator and his wife are scheduled to stand trial starting May 6 on charges that they accepted bribes of cash, gold bars and the car from the businessmen, who are accused of seeking his help with foreign affairs. Menendez, formerly the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is accused of passing information to Egyptian military and intelligence officials.
Both have pleaded not guilty, as have the others charged in the case.
Menendez has remained in office despite calls from key Democrats for him to resign.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- Noem’s Cabinet appointment will make a plain-spoken rancher South Dakota’s new governor
- Jeffrey Carlson, actor who played groundbreaking transgender character on All My Children, dead at 48
- Covid-19 and Climate Change Will Remain Inextricably Linked, Thanks to the Parallels (and the Denial)
- Maryland, Virginia Lawmakers Spearhead Drive to Make the Chesapeake Bay a National Recreation Area
- Gerry Faust, the former head football coach at Notre Dame, has died at 89
- Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker Expecting First Baby Together: Look Back at Their Whirlwind Romance
- This 22-year-old is trying to save us from ChatGPT before it changes writing forever
- World Talks on a Treaty to Control Plastic Pollution Are Set for Nairobi in February. How To Do So Is Still Up in the Air
- Francesca Farago Details Health Complications That Led to Emergency C-Section of Twins
- Colorado woman dies after 500-foot fall while climbing at Rocky Mountain National Park
Ranking
- Rōki Sasaki is coming to MLB: Dodgers the favorite to sign Japanese ace for cheap?
- Coronavirus: When Meeting a National Emissions-Reduction Goal May Not Be a Good Thing
- Microsoft can move ahead with record $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, judge rules
- House GOP chair accuses HHS of changing their story on NIH reappointments snafu
- 'Survivor' 47, Episode 9: Jeff Probst gave players another shocking twist. Who went home?
- How Comedian Matt Rife Captured the Heart of TikTok—And Hot Mom Christina
- Twitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign
- Supreme Court’s Unusual Decision to Hear a Coal Case Could Deal President Biden’s Climate Plans Another Setback
Recommendation
-
College Football Fix podcast addresses curious CFP rankings and previews Week 12
-
3D-printed homes level up with a 2-story house in Houston
-
Zendaya Feeds Tom Holland Ice Cream on Romantic London Stroll, Proving They’re the Coolest Couple
-
Ice Dam Bursts Threaten to Increase Sunny Day Floods as Hotter Temperatures Melt Glaciers
-
NFL coaches diversity report 2024: Gains at head coach, setbacks at offensive coordinator
-
Exxon Turns to Academia to Try to Discredit Harvard Research
-
Scientists Join Swiss Hunger Strike to Raise Climate Alarm
-
The Essential Advocate, Philippe Sands Makes the Case for a New International Crime Called Ecocide