Trial begins for Volodymr Zhukovskyy, charged in crash that killed 7 New Hampshire motorcyclists
RANDOLPH, N.H. — The trial for Volodymr Zhukovskyy, a commercial truck driver charged with negligent homicide in the deaths of seven motorcycle club members in New Hampshire, got underway on Monday.
Zhukovskyy, 26, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of negligent homicide, manslaughter, reckless conduct and driving under the influence in the June 21, 2019, crash. He has been in jail since then.
The jury was selected last week and is visiting the crash scene along a busy two-lane highway in northern New Hampshire on Monday. The trial, delayed because of the pandemic and defense problems with finding a crash reconstruction expert, is expected to last for several weeks.
The crash involved members of Jarheads Motorcycle Club, made up of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses.
The motorcyclists who died were part of a larger group that had just left a motel that evening and were headed to an American Legion Post in northern New Hampshire to set up for an annual meeting.
They were traveling east on U.S. Route 2 in Randolph when the westbound truck and empty flatbed trailer in tow collided with the group. In addition to the deaths, several bikers were injured.
Those killed include four people from New Hampshire, Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook; Albert Mazza Jr., 59, of Lee; Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord; and Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington. The remaining three victims were Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, Rhode Island and Jo-Ann and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Massachusetts.
Prosecutors are expected to focus on Zhukovskyy's drug use at the time of the crash.
Federal investigators said Zhukovskyy, who was returning from delivering vehicles for a Massachusetts transport company, regularly used drugs. After the crash, Zhukovskyy told police he had used both heroin and cocaine that morning, but that he felt "fine and okay to drive" later that day.
His lawyers, who declined to issue any pretrial statements, are expected to shift the blame to the bikers.
They have argued an independent analysis from March 2020 showed one of the motorcyclists who died was drunk and was the one who hit the truck and caused the crash. Federal investigators found that some of the bikers and passengers were impaired by alcohol, but that it wasn't the reason for the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board approved a report in December 2020 that concluded that Zhukovskyy's impairment from the drugs was the "probable cause" for him crossing the center line on the highway and sparking the fiery crash.
Zhukovskyy's lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get him a bail hearing so he could be released from jail pending his trial. The state Supreme Court denied the request.
Prosecutors said Zhukovskyy should never have been on the road in the first place. His commercial driving license should have been revoked in Massachusetts because of a drunken driving arrest in Connecticut about two months earlier.
Federal records show that the company Zhukovskyy was driving for, Westfield Transport, faced multiple violations for unsafe driving. The company is now disbanded and the two brothers who ran it were accused of falsifying records. They pleaded not guilty and their cases are pending in federal court.
