The Massachusetts man accused of killing seven motorcyclists in a June car crash in New Hampshire has been indicted on a litany of new charges, including manslaughter and homicide.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, has been indicted on seven counts of manslaughter, seven counts of negligent homicide-DUI, seven counts of negligent homicide, one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated and one count of reckless conduct, Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and Coos County Attorney John McCormick announced Monday.
Zhukovskyy was driving his pickup truck on Route 2 on June 21 when he crossed the center yellow line and crashed into a group of oncoming motorcycle riders, part of the JarHeads Marine veterans group on their way to a charity event in New Hampshire, police said.
He initially told officers that he had been leaning down to get something in his truck, but a report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Zhukovskyy tested positive for some type of narcotic or amphetamine at the time of the crash.
“It was just an explosion … with parts and Al and everything flying through the air,” JarHeads president Manny Ribeiro, who was riding alongside victim Al Mazza, previously told USA Today. “He turned hard left into us and took out pretty much everyone behind me. … Because the trailer was attached and it was such a big trailer, it was like a whip. It just cleaned us out.”
A month before the fatal accident, Zhukovskyy had been arrested for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a charge that should have resulted in a revoked license, but a miscommunication between Massachusetts and Connecticut allowed him to keep driving.
Zhukovskyy has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is due back in court in November.
If convicted, he faces up to 378 years in prison.
