Driver acquitted in bikers’ deaths in New Hampshire pleads responsible to impaired driving in Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A business truck driver who was acquitted within the 2019 deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire pleaded responsible and was sentenced Monday for driving underneath the affect in Connecticut a month earlier than the lethal crash — an offense that ought to have resulted in his license being revoked.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy appeared in Hartford Superior Courtroom and entered an Alford plea, which implies he didn’t admit guilt however acknowledged the state had sufficient proof to win a conviction at trial. The plea leads to a conviction, and he was sentenced to 18 months of probation.

“He clearly understands the importance of this,” Zhukovskyy’s lawyer, John O’Brien, mentioned throughout the transient court docket continuing.

Zhukovskyy, 29, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, solely mentioned “Responsible,” “Sure your honor” and “No your honor” throughout the listening to. O’Brien clarified it was an Alford plea. Zhukovskyy, sporting a taupe polo shirt underneath a taupe and white flannel shirt and black pants, didn’t remark getting into or leaving the courthouse.

He was arrested for driving underneath the affect in East Windsor, Connecticut, on Might 11, 2019. Connecticut officers alerted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Autos, however Zhukovskyy’s license wasn’t instantly suspended attributable to a backlog of out-of-state notifications about driving offenses.

East Windsor police mentioned they responded to a name a couple of man revving his truck after which yelling outdoors of it. Officers mentioned Zhukovskyy was appearing erratically after they received there, together with seeming hyperactive, He failed subject sobriety assessments, and he later examined optimistic for cocaine, police mentioned.

On June 21, 2019, Zhukovskyy was driving a truck towing a flatbed trailer in Randolph, New Hampshire, that collided with the motorcyclists, killing seven members of the Jarheads Motorbike Membership, a company of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses in New England.

Killed have been Albert Mazza Jr., of Lee, New Hampshire; Edward and Jo-Ann Corr, a pair from Lakeville, Massachusetts; Michael Ferazzi, of Contoocook, New Hampshire; Desma Oakes, of Harmony, New Hampshire; Daniel Pereira, of Riverside, Rhode Island; and Aaron Perry, of Farmington, New Hampshire.

A jury in 2022 discovered Zhukovskyy not responsible of a number of manslaughter and negligent murder expenses.

At his trial, prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy — who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine the day of the crash — repeatedly swerved backwards and forwards earlier than the collision and informed police he brought on it.

However a decide dismissed eight impairment expenses. Zhukovskyy informed authorities he didn’t assume he was impaired on the time of the crash. His attorneys mentioned the lead biker was drunk and never trying the place he was going when he misplaced management of his motorbike and slid in entrance of Zhukovskyy’s truck. The lead biker, Mazza, had a blood-alcohol degree of 0.135%, effectively above the authorized restrict of 0.08%, in accordance with his post-mortem report.

Zhukovskyy, who got here to the U.S. as a baby from Ukraine and had everlasting residency standing, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the 2022 verdict. A decide ordered his deportation in 2023, however the U.S. paused repatriation flights to Ukraine because of the battle with Russia and approved momentary protected standing for certified Ukrainians.

As a part of his Connecticut sentence for driving impaired, Zhukovskyy should carry out 100 hours of neighborhood service and undergo random drug assessments. If he violates probation, he could possibly be despatched to jail for six months. He informed a New Hampshire decide final yr that he had been sober for the earlier 5 years.

In November, the proprietor of the trucking firm Zhukovskyy labored for was sentenced to 2 months in jail for mendacity to investigators after the crash, together with falsifying driver logs to keep away from federal freeway security rules and giving false statements on how lengthy he had identified Zhukovskyy,