Massachusetts

Massachusetts Registrar of Motor Vehicles Resigns After New Hampshire Crash

Massachusetts' registrar of motor vehicles has resigned from her post in the wake of a crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that Registrar Erin Deveney had resigned. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack accepted her resignation.

Vlodymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old from West Springfield, Massachusetts, is charged with seven counts of negligent homicide after allegedly crashing his pickup truck into a group of motorcyclists Friday night in Randolph, New Hampshire.

Zhukovskyy has a lengthy record of incidents on the road. He was arrested on OUI charges in 2013 in Westfield, Massachusetts, and again last month in East Windsor, Connecticut, when he was allegedly found at a Walmart revving his truck engine and jumping around outside his vehicle.

Pollack said the Registry of Motor Vehicles "had not acted on information provided by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles about a May 11 incident that should have triggered termination of this individual's commercial driver's license." Still, MassDOT's statement blames Connecticut for Zhukovskyy's license not being revoked.

"To the RMV's knowledge, Connecticut failed to provide sufficient information through the federal CDL system (CDLIS) upon his May 11th OUI offense and refusal of a chemical test for the violations to automatically apply to his MA driving record," MassDOT wrote in a statement. "CDLIS notification would have resulted in an immediate termination of his CDL."

Additionally, police in Baytown, Texas, confirm to the NBC10 Boston Investigators that he flipped a tractor-trailer there while hauling cars.

Baytown Police said Zhukovskyy claimed he swerved after a car cut him off, then overcorrected and flipped his vehicle, which was carrying five cars.

The other car was not found and Zhukovskyy was not cited.

Former MassDOT Chief Operating Officer Jamey Tesler is taking over as acting registrar. Pollack said Tesler would lead an "in-depth review" of state-to-state data sharing processes at the registry.

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