RANDOLPH, N.H. (WHDH) – The truck driver in a 2019 crash that killed seven motorcyclists in Randolph, New Hampshire will not be allowed to drive in the state for at least two more years after state officials gave him a backdated seven-year suspension.
The crash happened on June 21, 2019. Prosecutors soon charged Volodymyr Zhukovskyy with multiple manslaughter and negligent homicide counts. After the case went to trial, a jury found Zhukovskyy not guilty in 2022.
The Associated Press reported Zhukovskyy automatically lost his Massachusetts license after his arrest following the crash.
After asking in May get his license back, Zhukovskyy sat for a hearing last month where survivors of the 2019 crash urged authorities to keep Zhukovskyy off the road.
“It is clear that the members of the traveling public in New Hampshire would be protected, and must be protected to the maximum extent possible by suspending Mr. Zhukovskyy’s nonresident operating privilege for as long as the law allows,” said David Hilts, representing the state of New Hampshire, as reported by the AP.
Zhukovskky expressed his “deepest condolences” to the crash victims and their families. Five years after officials said he told authorities he had a drug problem, Zhukovskky said he is now sober, according to the AP.
A judge on May 30 ruled Zhukovskyy “drove in an unlawful manner and materially contributed” to the crash.
In an order Wednesday, the same judge gave Zhukovskyy New Hampshire’s maximum allowed license suspension, backdating the suspension to June 24, 2019.
The people who died in the 2019 crash were all members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, an organization of Marine Corps. veterans and their spouses.
After his suspension ends, Zhukovskyy can have his license reinstated by requesting a hearing.
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