Blame The Victims

[Elderberry]

The Aging Rebel 3/31/2020

A lawyer for Ukrainian national Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who has been incarcerated since last June, filed a motion late last Friday for “an evidentiary hearing on the continuing need for preventative detention and his release on conditions of bail.”

Zhukovskyy is accused of driving his pickup truck and a trailer into a pack of motorcycles in Randolph, New Hampshire on June 21. 2019. The riders and passengers were all members or associates of the JarHeads Motorcycle Club. The dead are Jo-Ann and Edward Corr; Michael Ferazzi; Albert Mazza; Daniel Pereira; Desma Oakes; and Aaron Perry.

The Defense Motion

In the motion filed Friday Zhukovskyy’s lawyer, Jay Duguay, claims that one of the victims, Jarheads Motorcycle Club president Albert Mazza Jr., actually caused the accident.

Duguay writes: “Since that time (of the incident) the State has provided discovery that has substantially altered the original information available at the time of the bail hearing.”

“Specifically, State Police C.A.R. team initially determined that initial point of impact occurred between Mr. Zhukovskyy’s trailer and Albert Mazza’s motorcycle. They further concluded that the trailer was 1.5 ft over the center line into eastbound lane of travel at the time of impact. The report indicated that there was no evidence that the motorcycles were on the wrong side of the road at the time of the impact. The report noted that the first visible tire mark associated with the truck occurred at a position where the truck was protruding 4 feet into the eastbound lane of travel.

“The State recently disclosed a report from the Crash Labs, an independent accident reconstruction firm, which shows that the State Police CAR Team’s initial assessment was deeply flawed and that all the above information was incorrect.

More: http://www.agingrebel.com/17975

[Smokin Joe]

Noting the following in rebuttal to the 'new investigation': If the truck tire is on the center line, the truck body is over the center line. How much depends on bumper configuration, mirrors and other characteristics of the truck but that could be as much as two feet.

If the left lead rider was looking back at the pack, he was likely looking over his right shoulder on straight or right curving road. Anyone who rides knows that will cause you to veer to the right, not to the left into traffic.

The exception to that could be in a left turn, where the bike would be leaning to the left (center of gravity not directly above the tire contact patch) and then the lead rider could look back to the left side. However, such an act would be unlikely in the face of oncoming traffic, especially on a left turn where leaning the cycle to make the turn can place the rider in harm's way. That the rider was skilled and experienced is a presumption that can be made considering the rider was club president, and he would have been conscious of that fact and avoided the 'lean in'contact.