Trucking company owner pleads guilty in Marine motorcycle club crash

BOSTON — An proprietor of a now-defunct trucking firm agreed to plead responsible Tuesday to federal costs associated to a lethal crash in New Hampshire that killed seven motorcyclists of a Marine Corps veterans motorbike membership.

Dunyadar Gasanov, 39, pled responsible in Springfield, Massachusetts, to a few counts of constructing false statements to federal investigators. The automotive transport firm he owned, Westfield Transport Inc., employed Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, a industrial trucker driver who was concerned in a 2019 crash that left seven motorcyclists useless in northern New Hampshire.

Gasanov was accused of falsifying driver logs to keep away from federal highway security laws together with exceeding limits on the hours a driver can function. He additionally instructed no less than one worker to falsify data by deactivating logging gadgets as a way to exceed the allowable driving hours and lied about it to federal investigators. He additionally claimed to federal investigators that he had met Zhukovskyy the day he was employed when, in reality, he had identified him for years and was conscious that Zhukovskyy had been charged with drunken driving.

“Preserving communities secure takes all kinds. On this case, it’s about ensuring that operators of economic autos adhere to all required security procedures and laws,” Performing United States Legal professional Joshua Levy mentioned in a press release. “We is not going to overlook the lives in June 2019 that relate to this conviction. This defendant flouted these legal guidelines which can be essential to public security, and he jeopardized everybody on the highway, with tragic penalties right here.”

A lawyer for Gasanov, Peter Slepchuk, had no remark when reached concerning the plea settlement.

Gasanov, who is about to be sentenced Nov. 21, faces 5 years imprisonment, one yr of supervised launch and a $10,000 fantastic on every depend. His co-defendant, Dartanayan Gasanov, pleaded not responsible and is awaiting trial. Each have been indicted in 2021.

A jury in 2022 discovered Volodymyr Zhukovskyy not responsible of a number of manslaughter and negligent murder counts stemming from the June 21, 2019, collision in Randolph that killed seven members of the Jarheads Motorbike Membership, a company of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses in New England.

Zhukovskyy’s Massachusetts license was robotically suspended in New Hampshire after his arrest following the crash, however he sought to reinstate it earlier this yr. An administrative legislation decide for the Division of Security upheld the suspension in Could, and after a listening to in June, issued an order extending it till June 2026, seven years after the crash.

Seven years is the utmost allowed underneath the legislation. The state had argued the clock ought to begin this yr, which means the license would stay suspended till 2031.

Throughout the June listening to, household and pals of those that died and survivors of the crash implored the decide to impose the utmost suspension.

“Somebody that prompted such unbelievable, horrible ache to so many individuals has the audacity to say, ‘I would like my privilege again,’” David Bark, a member of the Jarheads, mentioned on the listening to. “It’s not a constitutional proper to drive a automotive, to function a motorcar on a public entry freeway. It is a privilege.”