Nadine Menendez hit and killed pedestrian in 2018 car crash referenced in federal indictment

Nadine Arslanian, who would later go on to marry New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and become Nadine Menendez, hit and killed a pedestrian in a 2018 car crash, according to a police report. That car crash is alleged to be the inception of a bribe in the federal indictment against the couple.

According to a report from the Bogota, New Jersey, police department, Arslanian struck 49-year-old Richard Koop with her Mercedes-Benz sedan in Bogota in December 2018, killing him. She was driving alone.

Police questioned Arslanian and concluded she was not at fault for the crash, the report says, and she was released without a summons and allowed to leave the scene of the crash. The pedestrian, Koop, had been jaywalking, according to the police report.

According to The New York Times, Arslanian was never tested for drugs or alcohol. Authorities must demonstrate probable cause a driver was impaired before testing for alcohol immediately after a crash, Joseph Rotella, a former president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, told the newspaper.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office declined to charge her, the Times reported, and the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Sen. Menendez addressed the car crash.

"That was a tragic accident," the Democrat said. "Obviously, we think of the family."