Unsealed affidavit reveals grisly details in fatal N.H. biker crash

An affidavit unsealed by a New Hampshire court Tuesday revealed grisly witness reports from the June crash that killed seven bikers, in which witnesses alleged Volodymyr Zhukovskyy’s truck and trailer was driving erratically before the collision and he appeared to flee after the crash.

Zhukovskyy, 23, pleaded not guilty in June to seven counts of negligent homicide in Coos County Superior Court after the June 21 collision that killed seven bikers with the Jarheads Motorcycle Club on a remote stretch of Route 2 near Randolph, N.H.

According to the affidavit by New Hampshire state trooper Brandon Girardi, witness Stephen Piwowarski, who was driving with his wife and child from Maine toward Vermont, saw the driver of the pickup truck and trailer travel into the eastbound lane of the road on two separate occasions before the crash.

Another driver who told investigators she saw the truck and trailer plow into the bikers and blow up said she didn’t see the truck apply the brakes “at all.”

Sean Moynahan, a driver who offered assistance to the bikers after the crash, told police he saw the operator of the Dodge pickup truck “take [a] backpack out of the truck and jog away from the truck.” The driver told investigators he “scooped up” the brain matter of one victim and placed it closer to the victim under a towel, and also attempted to extinguish another deceased club member who was on fire.

Another biker, Tad Duarte, said he saw the operator of the truck after the collision remove a cellphone and “felt the operator of the truck intended to flee,” according to the affidavit.

Other witnesses, including bikers who avoided the collision, described seeing the truck strike the bikers, including seeing Albert Mazza, who was killed in the crash, being struck by the truck “dead on.”

A group of Littleton, N.H., firefighters also told investigators while responding to a call in a fire engine two hours before the crash they witnessed at a crossing the black Dodge Ram, pulling a white car on a gooseneck trailer, travel at a high rate of speed and drift in the lane.

Girardi in his investigation found citations for Zhukovskyy in Iowa for improper use of lanes and using additional equipment that decreases safety. He also writes there were multiple calls taken by dispatch regarding Zhukovskyy’s reckless driving.

The Coos County Attorney has until Oct. 19, a day after the grand jury sits again, to file an indictment in Zhukovskyy’s case.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2ooG27O