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Menendez’s wife struck and killed a man while driving in 2018, reports indicate (www.politico.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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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.

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[–] 6 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

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.

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