The driver of a pickup truck that plowed into a group of motorcyclists
in New Hampshire has been charged with seven counts of homicide.
Posted on 06/25/2019 6:30:07 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The driver of a pickup truck that collided Friday night with a group of motorcyclists, killing seven people and injuring three others, has returned to New Hampshire to face negligent homicide charges.
Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, faced a judge Monday afternoon in Massachusetts and waived his extradition to New Hampshire. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Coos County Superior Court in Lancaster, New Hampshire.
Prosecutors said Zhukovskyy was driving a 2016 Dodge pickup truck that crashed into a group of motorcyclists on Route 2 in Randolph. Seven people were killed, and three more were hurt.
Zhukovskyy was arrested at his home in Massachusetts on a fugitive from justice charge that was dismissed Monday afternoon after he agreed to extradition to New Hampshire.
"This is a tragedy," defense attorney Donald Frank said. "This is a real tragedy for all of those families. I read the newspaper accounts. I don't know anything more about it than that, but he is still innocent until proven guilty. I hope that everyone respects that."
Local, state and federal agencies are investigating the crash. Coos County Attorney John McCormick said there was enough evidence to bring charges against Zhukovskyy.
"We looked at the evidence carefully," McCormick said. "State troopers and investigators have been working around the clock for the last three days since Friday when this even unfolded, and we had probable cause and we made an arrest."
Prosecutors have not released the evidence that led to the charges and have filed a motion to seal the probable cause affidavit, saying the investigation is ongoing.
All seven of those killed were on motorcycles, and they were all members or supporters of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, which is made up of Marine veterans.
The victims were identified as: •Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook •Albert Mazza, 59, of Lee •Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord •Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington •Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, Rhode Island •Jo-Ann and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Massachusetts
Two of the people who were injured were later released from the hospital, and the third, 45-year-old Joshua Morin of Dalton, Massachusetts, is at Maine Medical Center. Morin is listed in stable condition.
>> Link: GoFundMe page to support victims' families
News 9 has learned that Zhukovskyy appeared in a Springfield courtroom in April 2012 on charges of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and speeding. The three charges were dismissed.
He also made an appearance in court in 2017 on two drug charges. He pleaded guilty and paid a fine.
Last month, he was arrested in Connecticut and charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs. According to The Associated Press, Zhukovskyy was charged in 2013 with drunken driving in Westfield, Massachusetts.
Not good
He’s pleading not guilty
The caps above are from an eyewitness who survived.
He was driving the drag vehicle behind the group.
In 1997, I was driving drag for a group and watched a van mow two of them down.
I can’t remember what I saw while I’m awake.
But when I go to sleep....
Thanks for the ping, Salamander...I have heard this on the news up here and seen the accounts.
I look at it as what is more likely...someone coming the opposite way, who has had no interaction with the motorcyles of the kind that induces road rage in people...never seen them, doesn’t know who they are and intentionally plows into them for some unknown reason (suicide, anger at motorcyclists or people in general, etc.)
OR...
...Someone who wasn’t paying attention, had their face in their lap looking at their phone, texting something (or falling asleep due to fatigue from a night of drugging or whatever) while they crossed the centerline into the oncoming lane?
Occam’s Razor would suggest option #2. Doesn’t make it any better in the end result, he killed those people either way, but I don’t see why people keep saying he did it intentionally.
If he had been driving down the road, and there had been interactions, tailgating, passing inappropriately, hogging the road, fingers in the air, sure. Intent might even have been likely. But just because someone thinks “there is no way he didn’t see them” doesn’t mean he intentionally steered into them. And in the end...it really makes no difference. The end result is the same.
The whole thing is a sad affair, in the same way deaths due to drunks or texting are...people are dead, families and friends lives devastated, and the person who caused it has destroyed his own life as well.
Everyone loses, and even a justified prison sentence will never bring any of them back from the dead, or restore the happiness of the personal lives of the victims families and friends.
Perfunctory.
Russians aren’t immune to sudden jihad, can’t rule that out if he appeared to have turned into them deliberately.
He’s supposedly Ukrainian.
Don’t they have a Muz population?
They also said he was running around screaming and suicidal.
Hope no one interferes.
The driver of a pickup truck that plowed into a group of motorcyclists
in New Hampshire has been charged with seven counts of homicide.
I believe they do, and even if they don’t conversion knows no borders.
Hmmmm
Ditto
You’d be amazed how many people are openly weeping over the punk “ruining his life so young”.
It would be impossible for me to care less.
Hope his life sucks like a massive black hole from now on.
Makes me sick.
Hope you are right. Going to be hell living with that on the shoulders, if he has a conscience.
Blink of an eye, loss of control, worst case scenario develops quick.
Truckers have very large blind spots, and that is no shit.
This guy in the above referred to accident did not have a blind spot in front of his vehicle.
He was simply occupied elsewhere, if we give benefit of the doubt.
Yeah. He is going to swing no matter what, but...I don’t think he steered for them.
“You kill in jest but they die in earnest”
Doesn’t matter.
He slaughtered them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.