New details are emerging in court paperwork about the crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire last weekend.
Vlodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, was arrested Monday morning at his West Springfield, Massachusetts home. He is accused of driving a pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer that collided with with a group of motorcyclists on Friday night, leaving victims strewn on the grass amid their shattered bikes. The horrific crash happened on a two-lane highway in the small town of Randolph, New Hampshire.
Court documents released Tuesday show that Zhukovskyy is charged with driving a 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck and attached trailer on Route 2 westbound "erratically and across the double-yellow centerline," causing the collision with 10 motorcycles in the eastbound lane.
He is charged with seven counts of negligent homicide, one count for each life lost during the collision. The victims were members or supporters of Marine JarHeads, a New England motorcycle club made up of Marines and their spouses. They ranged in age from 42 to 62.
Zhukovskyy's attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in court Tuesday, Authorities said Zhukovskyy waived his arraignment on negligent homicide charges. The plea was entered in Lancaster, New Hampshire.
Zhukovskyy made a brief court appearance Monday in Massachusetts, where he waived extradition to New Hampshire.
Massachusetts State Police said troopers found wax packets containing a residue believed to be heroin in Zhukovskyy's home. If the residue tests positive for an illegal narcotic, they said he will face a drug charge as well.
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Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles records also show that Zhukovskyy was arrested on drunken driving charges last month and in 2013.
He was stopped by police in East Windsor, Connecticut, on May 11, state court records show. He was found at a Walmart revving his truck engine and jumping around outside his vehicle before being charged with operating under the influence.
Additionally, Zhukovskyy was arrested for drunken driving in 2013 in Westfield, Massachusetts, 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.
Police in Baytown, Texas, confirm to the NBC10 Boston Investigators that he flipped a tractor-trailer there while hauling cars.
Baytown Police said Zhukovskyy claimed he swerved after a car cut him off, then overcorrected and flipped his vehicle, which was carrying five cars.
The other car was not found and Zhukovskyy was not cited. But in February, police in the same community arrested him on drug charges after being dispatched to a Denny's restaurant for an intoxicated customer.
Police said he was "sitting at the counter talking to himself and acting strange." They said they found a crack pipe in his pocket.
Police said Zhukovskyy was driving a Westfield Transport vehicle when he crashed into the bikers in New Hampshire. Police questioned that company's owner, Damien Gasanov, at his West Springfield home Thursday. Authorities said Gasanov is cooperating.
When asked whether Zhukovskyy should have been on the road, Gasanov declined to answer directly.
"No more comments, guys. We cooperate with all of the troopers. We fully cooperate with all of the agencies. We fully give them everything we have," he said.
Asked again, Gasanov repeated, "No more comments."
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.
"It's tragic for the families involved, it's tragic for the victims in this, it's tragic for his family too," Frank said. "I'm not trying to equate that they're all the same. I'm making no such gesture. But I'm hoping everybody would be respectful toward the people who died in this case and respectful for what he has to go through too."
Authorities identified the dead as Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook, New Hampshire; Albert Mazza Jr., 59, of Lee, New Hampshire; Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord, New Hampshire; Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington, New Hampshire; Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, Rhode Island; and Jo-Ann and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Massachusetts.
"They seved for us, for our freedom," Stacey Wilson of Berlin, New Hampshire, said Tuesday. "They deserve to be recognized."
Dozens of Jarheads and supporters, even survivors of the crash, showed up to Coos County Superior Court Tuesday.
"The intention was to be part of this hearing as part of their healing process," said Merrimack County Sheriff Scott Hilliard.
One person injured in the wreck remained hospitalized in stable condition.
Authorities are asking for the public's help in the form of videos, photos or other information about the accident or the vehicles.
