Associated Press
- Sen. Bob Menendez's wife fatally struck a man with her car in December 2018.
- A retired police chief can be heard on police video asking other officers about the crash.
- The state attorney general is now investigating whether police properly investigated the crash.
A man who identified himself as a retired police chief intervened on behalf of the then-girlfriend of Sen. Bob Menendez after she fatally struck a man with her Mercedes-Benz in 2018, recently released dashcam footage shows.
Nadine Menendez, who went by the name Nadine Arslanian at the time, just two years before she married the New Jersey Senator, was deemed "not at fault" in the death of 49-year-old Richard Koop.
The footage shows officers seemingly appeasing Arslanian at the scene, and audio from the footage reveals the retired police chief saying he came to the scene as "a favor" to a friend.
Arslanian can be heard telling one officer that Koop had "jumped on my windshield" and that she "didn't do anything wrong." Police allowed her to leave the scene shortly after.
The fatal 2018 collision has drawn renewed scrutiny in the wake of last month's federal bribery indictment against the Menendezes. Court documents show that Arslanian complained via text multiple times about her lack of a vehicle in January 2019, just weeks after the collision. The indictment alleged that Menendez accepted a $60,000 Mercedes convertible for Arslanian, in exchange for helping quash an unrelated criminal prosecution.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin's office is now investigating whether or not police handled that crash investigation correctly, the Associated Press reported.
Several sources told NBC that investigators from the attorney general's office wanted to know who asked the retired police chief to come to the crash scene.
At one point in the video, the retired police chief asks what is going on, and officers at the scene can be heard responding, "That's what we are gathering now… [it's] dark… her breath, ya know?"
That response has raised questions around whether or not Arslanian was under the influence at the time of the collision. A police report reviewed by Insider did not reveal any sobriety test or questions about drug or alcohol use.
The Menendezes have both pleaded not guilty to the bribery charges, and have denied any wrongdoing. An attorney for Nadine Menendez did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.