CONCORD, N.H. -- The driver of a pickup in a fiery collision on a rural New Hampshire highway that killed seven motorcyclists was charged Monday with seven counts of negligent homicide.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, was arrested Monday morning at his home in West Springfield, Mass., the New Hampshire attorney general's office said. He will be arraigned today in Lancaster, N.H., authorities said.
He was handed over to New Hampshire authorities after a brief court appearance Monday in Springfield, Mass. Zhukovskyy looked down at his feet as he was led into the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Zhukovskyy was arrested on a drunken-driving charge in 2013 in Westfield, Mass., state motor vehicle records show. He was placed on probation for one year and had his license suspended for 210 days, The Westfield News reported.
Records from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicate that the company Zhukovskyy was driving for, Westfield Transport, has been cited for various violations in the past two years, MassLive.com reported.
There were two instances where drivers were in possession of narcotic drugs. Other violations included a driver without a commercial driver's license, one for speeding and another for defective brakes.
The company did not respond to requests for comment.
A man who answered the phone at the home of Zhukovskyy's family and would identify himself only as his brother-in-law said Monday that the family is in shock and feeling the same pain as everyone else but couldn't say whether the driver was right or wrong.
Since the accident, the brother-in-law said, Zhukovskyy had remained in his room, not eaten and talked to no one.
Defense attorney Donald Frank called Friday's crash a "tragedy" but said it's important to let the criminal justice system play out.
Zhukovskyy's pickup, towing a flatbed trailer, collided with a group of 10 motorcycles Friday on a two-lane highway in the northern New Hampshire community of Randolph, investigators said. The truck was traveling west when it struck the eastbound group of motorcycles.
The victims were members or supporters of the Marine JarHeads, a New England motorcycle club that includes Marines and their spouses, and ranged in age from 42 to 62. Four were from New Hampshire, two from Massachusetts and one from Rhode Island.
Joseph Mazza, whose nephew Albert Mazza Jr., was killed in the crash, welcomed the arrest but called it a poor consolation for the loss of a loved one.
JarHeads president Manny Ribeiro, who survived the crash, said the group had just finished dinner and was heading to a fundraiser at an American Legion post in nearby Gorham. A total of 21 riders and 15 motorcycles were in the group. Ten motorcycles, including Mazza, who was riding next to Ribeiro, were hit.
"It was just an explosion ... with parts and Al and everything flying through the air," he said. "He turned hard left into us and took out pretty much everyone behind me. The truck and trailer stayed attached and that is why it was so devastating ... because the trailer was attached and it was such a big trailer, it was like a whip. It just cleaned us out."
After the crash, Ribeiro recalled seeing Zhukovskyy "screaming and running around" in the middle of the road before he was taken away by authorities. Motorcycles and bodies were everywhere, he said, and several people were yelling at Zhukovskyy.
"It was very surreal," he said, adding that he had put a tourniquet on the leg of one rider who remains hospitalized in Maine.
"I saw Al. I knew he was gone right away," he continued. "At that point, we just tried to figure out who needed help and got to work. There was debris everywhere and the truck was on fire. I was just looking for survivors, familiar faces and trying to find out who I had lost and ... trying to help the living."
Authorities identified the dead as Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook, N.H.; Mazza, 59, of Lee, N.H.; Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord, N.H.; Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington, N.H.; Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, R.I.; and Jo-Ann and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Mass.
Information for this article was contributed by Patrick Whittle, Dave Collins and Alanna Durkin Richer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/25/2019