The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office seized records from Bergen County law enforcement agencies on Thursday to review how the investigation into a fatal 2018 car crash involving the soon-to-be-wife of Senator Robert Menendez was handled, two officials said. Was it done from or not?
Nadine Menendez, who was dating Mr. Menendez at the time of the crash, was released by police without a summons or sobriety tests after she struck Richard, 49, while driving on a wide, two-lane boulevard at night. Coop was killed. in Bogota, N.J., police records show.
After a brief investigation, the police determined that Ms. Menendez, 56, had “no fault” and that Mr. Coop, who had marijuana and alcohol in his system, was wandering across the street toward his apartment. Ms. Menendez told officers that Mr. Coupe “jumped on my windshield”; No charges were filed.
The Attorney General’s Office launched its investigation a day after details of the collision were first reported publicly by The New York Times and The Record of New Jersey, nearly five years later. A review by The Times of police reports, dashcam footage, 911 call recordings and video of the collision raises new questions about the rigor of the investigation, which Mr. Coupe’s relatives have long considered inadequate.
The renewed investigation could create new legal and political threats for Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, and his wife, who were convicted last month along with three New Jersey businessmen in a brazen bribery scheme. Each of them has pleaded not guilty, including to allegations that the couple received a new Mercedes-Benz convertible as a bribe to replace Ms. Menendez’s car, which was damaged in the crash.
According to two officials, who did not want to be identified, the attorney general’s public integrity unit will review all records generated by the Bogota Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether the investigation into the fatal crash was conducted appropriately. It was done from. The sensitive nature of the investigation was first reported by NBC News. New Jersey Attorney General, Matthew J. Platkin has authority over all state police agencies and county prosecutors’ offices.
Bogota Police Department leaders have not returned phone calls or responded to personal questions about the incident for several days. On Thursday, an officer, Kevin Geraghty, referred a reporter to the borough attorney, William Batesh, who said he had “no comment on this matter.”
Christopher M. Kelemen, the borough’s Republican mayor, and each member of Bogotá’s elected council declined to comment, citing Mr. Batesh’s direction. Several council members said they were unaware of the crash or the high-profile driver involved until this week — even though state records show it was the small borough’s only traffic accident in at least a five-year period.
Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Elizabeth Raben said she had no information to provide about the records seizure or the attorney general’s review.
The issue came to the fore at a city meeting in Bogota Thursday night when former council member Jorge Nunez said he wanted to know more about the police response. “I’m not the only one who doesn’t feel good about his community, his community,” he said.
Mary Ellen Murphy, a Democratic council member who is currently running for mayor, responded that it would be “irresponsible” for city leaders to comment before knowing more.
“On the advice of our attorney, we should heed the attorney’s advice,” he said.
Neither Mr. Menendez nor his wife ever reached out to the Coup family to offer condolences. Ms. Menendez’s lawyer, David Schertler, said Mr. Koop’s death was a “tragic accident” unrelated to the federal bribery charges.
“I have to believe that the police investigated and exonerated him and found that he was at no fault,” he said earlier this week.
All this comes just weeks after federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged the senator and his wife in a detailed 39-page indictment. Prosecutors said the couple accepted bribes, including gold bars and mortgage payments, in exchange for Mr. Menendez using his political influence to suppress criminal investigations and deliver aid and weapons to Egypt.
Although they did not share details of the December 2018 fatal collision, prosecutors said in the indictment that Ms. Menendez was in an “accident” that month that left her without a car. He said the senator then agreed to try to stop a state criminal investigation involving an aide in exchange for a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible.
Mr. Platkin’s office had previously announced it would investigate the senator’s alleged attempt to interfere with the state investigation. That review will be expanded to also include a review of the fatal accident that occurred before that.
A spokesman for Mr. Platkin had no comment about the inquiry.
According to her relatives and police records, Ms. Menendez’s car hit Mr. Coup when he was headed toward her home after being dropped off on the opposite side of the road. Due to the impact his body was thrown towards the shore. Both of his shoes were blown off, one landing in the middle of the street and the other in front of his apartment. By the time the police arrived, he had no pulse.
A passerby first called 911. Ms. Menendez called the police four minutes after the crash and told the 911 dispatcher that Mr. Coupe had jumped on her car, an explanation she repeated to the Bogota officer investigating the crash.
A man who reached Ms. Menendez’s behalf shortly after the accident identified himself as a retired member of the police department in the neighboring city of Hackensack. He can be heard in a dashcam video asking about the investigation and whether police planned to involve the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
Mr. Coup’s death is the only motor-vehicle fatality since 2018 in Bogotá, a small suburban town of about 8,000 people near the Hackensack River, according to state data. According to state data, it was one of 19 pedestrian deaths in Bergen County in 2018, a figure that has fluctuated only slightly in recent years. Nearly one-third of the 524 fatal car crashes in New Jersey that year were caused by drunk driving.
Police officers, who must have probable cause to test a driver for alcohol, did not test Ms. Menendez, although days after the accident, police investigators still tried to prove that Mr. Coup had driven her while driving. Had spent the night drinking alcohol.
State records show that most surviving drivers involved in fatal crashes are not tested for alcohol. Only 30 percent of the surviving drivers were tested in 2018, while most of the pedestrians killed, 154 of 175, were tested for alcohol, presumably through autopsies.
Also on Thursday, in a sign of the complex and interconnected nature of the charges against Mr. Menendez, a federal judge rejected a guilty plea that one of the senator’s co-defendants entered a year earlier in an unrelated bank fraud case. I did.
Fred Dibbs, a New Jersey developer who was charged last month with bribing the senator and his wife, pleaded guilty to making false entries in connection with a loan document. The $1.8 million loan was repaid, and no prison time was sought in the plea agreement approved by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey.
But on Thursday, Judge Susan D. Wigenton of the U.S. District Court in New Jersey summarily rejected Mr. Dibbs’s petition.
Judge Wigenton’s order states, “The Court is not required to follow the terms of plea agreements,” and cases may be disposed of in a manner less favorable to defendants than contemplated plea agreements.
The new indictment alleges that Mr. Menendez tried to set up a political ally as a U.S. attorney in New Jersey in an effort to help Mr. Dibbs get off the hook in a bank fraud case. Associate, Philip R. Salinger was appointed to the position, but recused himself from the investigation involving Mr. Dybbs.
A spokesman for Mr. Selinger has said that “all activities by the office related to that case were appropriately handled in accordance with the principles of federal prosecution.”
Lawrence S., Mr. Dibbs’s lawyer in the bank loan case. Lustberg said he and his clients were “carefully evaluating our options as a result of the court order.”
Kirsten Noyce contributed research.