Massachusetts

Mass. Suspends More Licenses Amid Review of Embattled RMV

Officials say over 1,000 suspensions have been issued as the RMV combs through unprocessed out-of-state notifications.

Massachusetts has issued over 1,000 suspensions after reviewing unprocessed out-of-state notifications at the embattled Registry of Motor Vehicles, officials said Friday.

Gov. Charlie Baker and other officials held a press conference to provide updates on the Baker administration's efforts to reform the RMV in the wake of a motorcycle crash in New Hampshire that killed seven.

Officials said 940 suspensions had been issued to 746 drivers after the state's review of unprocessed out-of-state notifications at the RMV headquarters in Quincy.

Authorities also reviewed 72 boxes at the RMV's archives in Concord that contained unprocessed violations. So far, 168 suspensions for 130 unique drivers have been processed from those boxes.

An investigation released earlier this week by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation -- sparked by the New Hampshire crash -- found that the RMV wasn't properly processing out-of-state notifications about driving offenses. Instead, the notifications were put into storage bins where they were left untouched.

Connecticut officials twice alerted Massachusetts about a drunken driving arrest against the truck driver in the crash, 23-year-old Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, the report found.

Despite the alerts, Massachusetts failed to suspend Zhukovskyy's license. He has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of negligent homicide.

“The lapse that occurred (at the RMV) was completely unacceptable," Baker said.

“The Registry has a major role to play in keeping the Commonwealth’s roads safe, and there is still much work to be done to ensure the integrity of the registry's data and its data-sharing process between states to achieve this critical mission.”

Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said processes are being developed to to ensure all out-of-state notifications triggering suspensions will be acted on within one business day.

Prosecutors in Connecticut said Zhukovskyy was arrested May 11 after failing a sobriety test. He refused to submit to a blood test, prosecutors said. His lawyer in that case said Zhukovskyy denies being intoxicated.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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