Driver acquitted in bikers' deaths in New Hampshire pleads guilty to impaired driving in Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A commercial truck driver who was acquitted in the 2019 deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday for driving under the influence in Connecticut a month before the deadly crash — an offense that should have resulted in his license being revoked.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy appeared in Hartford Superior Court and entered an Alford plea, which means he did not admit guilt but acknowledged the state had enough evidence to win a conviction at trial. The plea results in a conviction, and he was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
'He clearly understands the significance of this,' Zhukovskyy's lawyer, John O'Brien, said during the brief court proceeding.
Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, was arrested for driving under the influence in East Windsor, Connecticut, on May 11, 2019. Connecticut officials alerted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Zhukovskyy's license wasn't immediately suspended due to a backlog of out-of-state notifications about driving offenses.
On June 21, 2019, Zhukovskyy was driving a truck towing a flatbed trailer in Randolph, New Hampshire, that collided with the motorcyclists, killing seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, an organization of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses in New England.
A jury in 2022 found him not guilty of multiple manslaughter and negligent homicide charges.
At his trial, prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy — who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine the day of the crash — repeatedly swerved back and forth before the collision and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight impairment charges and his attorneys said the lead biker was drunk and not looking where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid in front of Zhukovskyy's truck.
Zhukovskyy, who came to the U.S. as a child from Ukraine and had permanent residency status, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the 2022 verdict. A judge ordered his deportation last year, but the U.S. has paused repatriation flights to Ukraine due to the war with Russia and authorized temporary protected status for qualified Ukrainians.

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