Face of Nation : The state Registry of Motor Vehicles chief has resigned over the case of the trucker charged with killing seven bikers in New Hampshire, after the agency admitted it failed to suspend the 23-year-old driver’s truck license following a drunken driving arrest in Connecticut last month.
Registrar Erin Deveney resigned from her $143,800-a-year-job Tuesday. Former MassDOT Chief Operating Officer Jamey Tesler will take over as acting registrar.
MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack said in a statement, “The RMV 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.”
Tesler will lead an in-depth review of the registry’s state-to-state data sharing system to “ensure the RMV acts as quickly as possible on any information shared by other states,” Pollack said.
Deveney’s sudden resignation came just hours after Volodymyr Zhukovskyy entered a not guilty plea to seven counts of negligent homicide in the Friday motorcycle disaster in Randolph, N.H. A judge ordered him held on a preventative detention due to his driving and criminal history, which includes prior drug- and drunk-driving convictions.
Zhukovskyy failed a sobriety test on May 11 in East Windsor, Conn., after police were alerted to someone revving a truck engine and jumping around outside of a Walmart, according to a police report. The West Springfield man was arrested, but police said he refused a chemical test — which in Massachusetts results in the automatic termination of a trucker’s license, according to MassDOT.
Connecticut, however, “failed to provide sufficient information” through the federal licensing system about the refusal to take a test, MassDOT said. Therefore, the automatic license suspension did not happen.
Then on May 29, the Connecticut DMV sent a message about the OUI arrest to the Massachusetts RMV through the state-to-state messaging system for registries — but still no suspension.
“While the RMV system could not automatically process the communication, it generated a notification requiring manual review,” the MassDOT statement reads. “This review had not been performed by RMV personnel as of (Sunday) June 23, which is why the May 11 chemical test refusal does not appear on Zhukovskyy’s driving record and why his license had not been suspended in MA.”
Connecticut’s DMV and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.
Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement that he was “saddened by this horrific tragedy” and ordered the immediate review “of the Registry’s processes for handling state to state information sharing.”
Baker’s statement added: “Keeping roadways safe is a top priority and the Administration will take all necessary steps to ensure the Registry is appropriately handling all data shared between states.”
Deveney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has filed a detainer on Zhukovskyy. That means the Ukrainian national, who had just secured a green card, faces being deported when he’s released. Deportation proceedings usually come after a suspect has served time on any state charges.
Zhukovskyy was driving a 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck and trailer erratically westbound Friday evening on Route 2 when police say he crossed a double-yellow center line and collided with members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club in the eastbound lane. Seven bikers were killed and three were hospitalized.
Only weeks earlier in Baytown, Texas, Zhukovskyy had flipped an 18-wheeler, claiming to police that a car cut him off, according to Baytown Lt. Steve Dorris. Also, Baytown police arrested him four months earlier, on Feb. 11, when at 2 a.m. at the local Denny’s, Zhukovskyy was sitting at the counter “talking to himself and acting strange,” Dorris said. Police searched him and found a crack pipe, charging him with possession of drug paraphernalia.
