The trial of the West Springfield trucker driver accused of inflicting a crash that resulted within the deaths of seven motorcyclists has begun in New Hampshire.
“I saw the truck hitting the motorcycles. The smoke. The mushroom cloud. The debris,” stated Corrine Jennings, the fourth and final witness prosecutors referred to as within the Coos County Superior Court earlier than the trial recessed for a lunch break at round 12:15 p.m.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, who had immigrated as a toddler to the U.S. from Ukraine along with his household, is accused of driving underneath the affect and recklessly permitting his pickup truck to cross the middle line of U.S. Route 2 in Randolph, N.H., on June 21, 2019, and placing and killing seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, a bunch composed of former Marines and their spouses.
He faces seven counts of negligent murder, seven counts of negligent murder — DUI, seven counts of reckless manslaughter, one depend of DUI aggravated fee with severe harm and one depend of reckless conduct with a lethal weapon. These are the corrected prices from earlier media releases within the case.
Both the prosecutor and the protection legal professional admit that Zhukovskyy had snorted cocaine and heroin that morning, about 12 hours earlier than the roughly 6:30 p.m. crash — although prosecutors additionally say that fentanyl was a part of the damaging combine. Zhukovskyy had voluntarily allowed a blood take a look at within the hours after the crash.
“‘I caused the accident, I wasn’t looking,’” prosecutor John McCormick, in his opening assertion, stated Zhukovskyy informed police within the crash’s aftermath. “Those were the words of the man who caused all of this.”
He had gotten excessive that morning understanding full effectively the hazards of his actions, as the results of his drug use had been made fairly clear when police revived Zhukovskyy throughout a May overdose that 12 months whereas he was on a fishing journey along with his household.
That’s not so clear-cut, protection legal professional Steve Mirkin countered in his personal opening. Instead, it was Jarheads President Albert “Woody” Mazza, of Lee, N.H., on the head of the motorbike group, who was at fault. A autopsy take a look at confirmed Mazza’s blood alcohol content material was 0.135, effectively above the 0.8 authorized restrict.
Mirkin stated the Jarheads group referred to the Coors Lite Mazza drank that afternoon as “Woody Water” for a way a lot he drank it. He additionally stated that Mazza had been trying behind him simply earlier than the crash and had been veering towards Zhukovskyy’s truck.
Jennings was driving to Vermont on Route 2 with a automobile between her and the 2016 Dodge Ram 2500 pushed by Zhukovskyy.
He had not too long ago unloaded a Toyota Rav4 at Berlin City Ford — which homes different automobile model franchises underneath its roof, together with Toyota — and Jennings testified that she had seen the now-empty trailer repeatedly “whipping” within the lane and Zhukovskyy overcorrecting and swerving. Soon thereafter, she testified, she noticed the “mushroom cloud” of the crash and witnessed the truck barrel via bikes.
Then-dealership worker Anthony Plant, the third witness — who has a file of 5 drug-related felonies however testified that he has been clear and sober since his final arrest a pair years in the past — testified that Zhukovskyy drove dangerously via the parking zone of the dealership.
He stated that Zhukovskyy, who he initially thought is perhaps Middle Eastern attributable to what he admitted was a scarcity of geographical data, got here in to the Honda and Nissan aspect of the dealership — the north finish — searching for the Toyota space on the south finish. Zhukovskyy then drove his giant truck and trailer at “25 to 30” mph via a pedestrian space of the lot after which dangerously near the constructing.
The most tense second on the witness stand was Plant’s cross-examination, the place Mirkin stated that Plant’s story didn’t line up with the transcript of his preliminary interview with State Police.
Earlier witnesses — Miranda Thompson and Jim Anderson — had been introduced as much as go over images and movies they took of the scene.
Thompson testified that she and her mom, who had some medical coaching, rushed to the scene to attempt to assist and noticed our bodies and wreckage. Videos Anderson shot confirmed flames first underneath the hood of Zhukovskyy’s truck after which the flames spreading to totally engulf the automobile.
Anderson additionally stated that one motorcyclist threatened to kill Zhukovskyy however was held again by different Jarheads members — however in cross-examination, protection legal professional Mirkin stated that in Anderson’s preliminary statements to police he had stated there was a “physical confrontation,” and never only a risk.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”