https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/toxicology-report-released-as-judge-denies-bail-hearing-request-for-driver-in-randolph-crash/article_4c890952-2b11-5292-81e5-974314ea8f66.html
A truck driver charged in a Randolph crash that killed seven motorcyclists and passengers affiliated with the Jarheads Motorcycle Club had fentanyl, morphine and a chemical found in cocaine in his system that day, and told law enforcement he often would take drugs before starting work, prosecutors said in a document made public Tuesday.
In the court document, prosecutors said Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, Mass., on the morning of the June 21, 2019, crash consumed two baggies of heroin and half a gram of cocaine. Prosecutors presented the information in a motion objecting to Zhukovskyy’s request for a bail hearing.
According to prosecutors, Zhukovskyy’s drug use the day of the crash was “egregious,” because he was free on bail on a prior charge of driving under the influence in Connecticut, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors made the motion in response to a request for a bail hearing for Zhukovskyy, which Judge Peter Bornstein denied on Tuesday. Zhukovskyy, jailed since the crash, awaits trial in November on multiple counts of negligent homicide and DUI. He has pleaded not guilty.
Zhukovskyy’s lawyer argued last month that an independent analysis of the crash showed one of the motorcyclists was drunk and was the one who hit Zhukovskyy’s pickup, causing the crash.
Prosecutors said only that the findings from the analysis “still demonstrate that the defendant was not operating fully within his appropriate lane of travel at the time he collided with the first motorcycle” and then hit the bikers.
Prosecutors argued Zhukovskyy is a danger to himself and others and should remain in jail. They also claimed he is a flight risk because he is a Ukrainian national.