Truck driver’s driving license suspension extended by 2 years after being acquitted of a fatal motorcycle accident

CONCORD, NH (AP) — A truck driver who was acquitted in the deaths of seven motorcyclists in 2019 will not be able to get his license back for two years, New Hampshire safety officials said.

A jury found Volodymyr Zhukovsky acquitted in 2022 of multiple murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the June 21, 2019, collision in Randolph that killed seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, an organization of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses in New England.

Zhukovskyy’s Massachusetts driver’s license was automatically suspended in New Hampshire following his arrest after the crash, but he tried to get it reinstated earlier this year. A Department of Safety administrative law judge upheld the suspension in May and, after a hearing last month, issued an order Wednesday extending it to June 2026, seven years after the crash.

Seven years is the maximum sentence allowed by law. The state had argued that the term should begin this year, which would mean that his driver’s license would remain revoked until 2031. Zhukovskyy’s lawyer wanted to lift the revocation retroactively to 2019 and remove the last two years of the maximum sentence for good behavior.

Judge Ryan McFarland said he took into account Zhukovskyy’s testimony that he had been sober for five years and had turned his life around since the accident. But the aggravating circumstances far outweighed the mitigating circumstances, he said.

“This is an accident that should not have happened. It is clear from the testimony that there were warning signs that the defendant realized his driving was not reasonable or safe and that he should have stopped to correct any problems,” McFarland wrote. “The loss of life, particularly of seven people so dearly loved, must be weighed more highly than the inconvenience associated with losing one’s license to drive.”

At his trial, prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy – who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine on the day of the crash – swerved repeatedly before the collision and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight charges of reckless assault, and his lawyers said the lead motorcyclist was drunk and not paying attention to where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and skidded in front of Zhukovskyy’s truck, which was pulling an empty flatbed trailer.

At that point, Zhukovskyy’s license should have been suspended because he had been arrested for drunk driving in Connecticut in May 2019. Connecticut authorities notified the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Zhukovskyy’s license was not suspended because there was a backlog of traffic violation reports from other states. The Connecticut case is still pending.

Zhukovskyy, who came to the U.S. from Ukraine as a child and had permanent residency, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the 2022 ruling. A judge ordered his deportation last year, but the U.S. has suspended repatriation flights to Ukraine because of the war with Russia and granted temporary protected status to qualified Ukrainians.

Holly Ramer, Associated Press