Nadine Arslanian Menendez, whose Mercedes was severely damaged, was not taken into custody or tested for drugs and alcohol, according to The Record.

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.

  • Aidinthel@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    Killing people is apparently 100% legal in the US as long as you use a car to do it.

    • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
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      1 year ago

      Because most of the traffic laws are built around favoring cars over pedestrians, cyclists and public transit. The opposite of the common sense rules in most European countries.

    • Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Like many weird American things, there’s an episode of The Dollop podcast exploring it. I think it’s episode 193: When the Cars Came.

      I feel like there might have been an episode of the Futility Closest about it too, but I can’t find it.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’ve seen people jaywalking elsewhere, including Europe.

      I like to bash the US as much as the next lemming, but don’t single out the US on this one.

      Edit: Please disregard the above. I suck cocks.

      • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In many other countries, ‘jaywalking’ is perfectly normal and legal outside of separated highways/motorways/throughways.

        I don’t think the question is why do Americans cross outside of crosswalks, but why is the idea that crossing outside of a crosswalk is a taboo so common in the US? Jaywalking being bad is so ingrained in America that many people don’t even realize it’s not a taboo internationally.

        The answer, of course, is that initially people in the US were upset by drivers killing people. Because of that, the auto industry invented the term jaywalking and spent a lot of money and effort on victim blaming. They were quite successful in America, but weren’t as successful in some other countries.

        That’s objectively paid off for the US auto industry. In the Netherlands, the initial pushback to drivers starting to kill more and more people, the “stop the child-murder” protests lead to the Netherlands becoming so bike friendly.

  • Staple_Diet@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    Reminds me of the partner of a US intelligence member who hit and killed a man in the UK and saw no repercussions. Vehicular manslaughter is becoming a top 10 US export.