Truck driver that killed 7 motorcyclists acquitted!

[dirtrider]

https://www.kktv.com/2022/08/09/truck-driver-acquitted-deaths-7-motorcyclists-2019/

[TEWKS]

There are no consequences for breaking the law anymore. Have at it I say!  Unbelievable. 
 

edit… ship his ass back over to the frontlines. 

[Scott9999]

Quote

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours after a two-week trial during which prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy — who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine earlier on the day of the crash — repeatedly swerved back and forth before the collision and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight charges related to whether he was impaired, and his attorneys blamed the lead biker, Albert “Woody” Mazza Jr., saying he 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 was born in Ukraine, remained jailed as of late Tuesday afternoon. It is unclear when he might be released. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an immigration detainer on him after the crash and that was executed following the verdict, said Ben Champagne, the superintendent at the Coos County Department of Corrections.

 

ICE said in a statement that Zhukovskyy has been served a notice to appear before an immigration judge and will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of that appearance. It did not say where he is being held.

 

All seven motorcyclists killed were members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club. After the verdict, a member of the Marine group reached through Facebook declined to comment. Mazza’s father, also named Albert, said he was stunned.

 

“Killing seven people and he gets off. That is unbelievable,” said Mazza. He described his son as a “good man” who devoted much of his time to charity, and said it was wrong to pin blame on him.

 

“It doesn’t make much sense,” he said. “There are seven people dead. There are seven families affected. It’s strange that he didn’t get something.”

Couldn't get much out of the story, as to why the jury acquitted a provably drug addled, (apparently) illegal immigrant, commercial truck driver, who killed "just a bunch of redneck retired US Marines" (my interpretation, re: Jarhead club).   It's a total mystery.  I mean in this day and age, the one thing we have come to expect is totally impartial justice regardless of who is the accused or the victim.  So, we can totally trust that this acquittal was uninfluenced by the personal politics of the jurors, and was simply based on the evidence presented in the case.  🙄👍

 

God bless the USA ('cause we need a lot of it).

[6speedTi]

Massachusetts has become like NY. He was under the influence and illegal alien?  Wow!!!

[TSConver]

How can you say he was guilty?  You were not in the courtroom to hear all the evidence.  Sounds like the prosecution messed up the DUI evidence or someone did or it was flawed.  Also where does it say he was illegally in the country.  Just says ICE was detaining him afterwards so they might be revoking his VISA.  A lot of Monday morning quarterbacks unless you sat on the Jury you have no way of knowing why he was acquitted or the evidence presented.  In this country everyone is still presumed innocent until proven guilty and evidently the prosecution was unable to do that.

[wbw6cos]

The defense did a great job!   

[Skywagon]

one of the things I've always found interesting in admission of a crime is what happens afterwards.  I'm not questioning the verdict, but as I understand it he admitted to driving under drug influence. Let's just say the accident was not his fault for sake of argument.  If he had admitted to breaking and entering, armed robbery, car theft, etc would he have faced a crime.  It's always bug the sheet out of my how people can confess to taking something like heroin after the fact and that is not a crime.  Seems the standard for prosecution of admitting to certain crimes is not universal.  I get it that some will say well I took a drug but nobody was harmed.  OK...let's see...where did that drug come from, how did it get to you.  Soap box for me but I would be in favor of at least a misdemeanor if someone admits...yeah I smoked crack last week.

[TEWKS]

24 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

yeah I smoked crack last week.

How was it?  Asking for William’s friend…

 

Spoiler

Took it out of context for the joke :-))

 

[Skywagon]

Only person from my generation that has never taken drugs. Never  taken any… not even weed

[Scott9999]

3 hours ago, TSConver said:

How can you say he was guilty?  You were not in the courtroom to hear all the evidence.  Sounds like the prosecution messed up the DUI evidence or someone did or it was flawed.  Also where does it say he was illegally in the country.  Just says ICE was detaining him afterwards so they might be revoking his VISA.  A lot of Monday morning quarterbacks unless you sat on the Jury you have no way of knowing why he was acquitted or the evidence presented.  In this country everyone is still presumed innocent until proven guilty and evidently the prosecution was unable to do that.

Naw, it ain't that way anymore, and I could point to a dozen different cases where that is so, without even trying hard.  Justice ain't been blind since ... I dunno, maybe 2009?  Maybe longer.  

 

Nope, I certainly do not know the legal technicalities of this case, but I can guess based on recurring events in American society today.  The innocent are convicted, the guilty go free, and certain elements of our US society intend it that way.  I'm still able (allowed?!) to think freely, and speak freely, so I guess we can agree to disagree, agreeably. No? 

[Scott9999]

26 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

Only person from my generation that has never taken drugs. Never  taken any… not even weed

Lol, I was the Pharmacist's kid who worked in a family pharmacy from age 14, and whose dad would turn beet-red angry when he couldn't get me to take an aspirin or other simple, beneficial drug.  "Everyone was doing it" i.e. sex, drugs and alcohol, when I was in high school.  As I worked out 4 to 6 hours a day to be the best athlete I could be, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why there were so many fools all around me, who would risk doing all of that stuff.  🙄😏

[Mike]

I haven’t followed the case in depth, but there was evidence produced, either through cross examination or in the defense’s case in chief, that the lead rider was intoxicated, weaving, and crossed over the center line, leading to his death and that of the other riders. The argument, as I understand it, was that regardless of whether the driver was weaving or had been high earlier in the day, there was substantial evidence that they would have died regardless…even if the driver was sober and completely in his lane. 

All it takes is for the defense to plant a reasonable doubt. It seems that they succeeded in this case, overruling the verdict that had been rendered in social media.

[fourteenfour]

The simple fact is he should never been driving that truck but the state failed and the company owner failed as well in not checking his driving record sufficiently.

 

the lead rider who died was an idiot for driving that drunk and could have target fixated or even freaked out when he saw the truck on the double yellow and swerved or locked up losing control of his bike.

 

 

[Rougarou]

The butterfly effect ya.

 

So, had the driver of the truck had his license properly pulled, he likely wouldn't have been at that place at that point in time,...thus accident avoided.

 

Had the lead rider not been above the legal limit, not looking back, not crossed the center line, he may not have hit the truck which cause a domino effect.

 

Soooo, the driver could have been high earlier in the day, driving the truck at that place and point in time, AND had the lead rider been sober and not crossed the center line,.....there likely would not have been an accident at all.  Also, had the driver NOT been high earlier in the day AND the lead rider been above the limit, looking behind him and cross the center line, the driver could have used defensive driving to avoid the biker.

 

Lotsa ifs,....lostsa ifs

[KDeline]

7 hours ago, Skywagon said:

Only person from my generation that has never taken drugs. Never  taken any… not even weed

No drugs ever for me, never drank either. Why would anyone intentionally impair themselves beyond control? Never made sense to me. 

[Hosstage]

9 minutes ago, KDeline said:

No drugs ever for me, never drank either. Why would anyone intentionally impair themselves beyond control? Never made sense to me. 

You guys are missing out!

 

[MichiganBob]

When I was getting the original news feeds on this tragedy, it was very one sided about the driver, his drug background, swerving, past impaired record, and such. Naturally I formed an angry position toward him and thought they should put him away for the rest of his life. Now I see that there may have been culpability on both sides. I had not heard before that the lead motorcycle driver was probably seriously impaired and might have been in the truck's lane or something like that. It changes my mind, opens it up a bit to consider other possibilities. Naturally, as a motorcyclist for more that 55 years, I am heavily and knowingly biased when I read about a car- motorcycle crash since I and my buds have had so many close calls with careless 4 wheelers. But then again, some recent motorcycles accidents in my neck of the woods have been caused by high speed bikes, tailgating, inattention, and lane splitting as well as those due solely by the 4 wheelers.

 

I crave simple answers to complex situations. It's more convenient that way. Like they say, three sides to every story; my side, your side, and the truth which usually contains elements from the first two sides.

 

Ride safe.

[Hosstage]

I have learned, or at least try, to wait until things play out before rushing to judgement on stories. Many times it reports one way, only to have "as it turns out" come in to play and skew the original report.

[wbw6cos]

I have been thinking about the commercial driver aspect of the situation.    Whether or not he admitted to using drugs earlier in the day, he should have been tested.  Period!

 

https://csa.fmcsa.dot.gov/safetyplanner/MyFiles/SubSections.aspx?ch=23&sec=70&sub=183

 

Fatality? Yes, always tested. 

 

I have had to go take a drug screen after an involvement in a traffic incident.  I was not at fault, but the car was towed (flat tire) and I was instructed to go take a drug screen within 2 hours.  I passed,  by the way. (thanks for asking)

 

I am just amazed that with all the law enforcement personnel involved with the investigation,  that nobody with Motor Carrier Compliance made him take a urine test.   In some cases, testing can be done at the scene, discreetly. I am pretty sure that it was known about a fatality, so why?

That regulation involves the carrier as well, so we will see about civil litigation later on.

 

As a professional driver, who has never done anything  more that alcohol (in moderation.  HA) I find it insulting that a commercial driver involved in a fatal wreck actually mentioned taking drugs.  Stupid.  Stupid to admit and just plain stupid to actually use drugs!  He deserves a blanket party for just saying he took drugs, but then to drive later.......

 

I am glad the legal process worked for him, but he needs to go.  Period!

 

 

SMDH!

 

 

[AviP]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:08 PM, Skywagon said:

Only person from my generation that has never taken drugs. Never  taken any… not even weed

<hijack> +1. My drug of choice is a bike! </hijack>

 

On the acquittal, it was because there seemed to be conflicting evidence that the lead biker was riding into the truck and it would have made no difference on the outcome. Since there is no video, we will never know. Unfortunately, a bad case can result in an acquittal. 

[MichiganBob]

A lot of victims in the aftermath. I'm thinking about all those families and how they were/are affected. It's ugly.