A commercial trucker who was involved in a crash that caused seven motorcyclist fatalities has avoided conviction and deportation—and now he wants his commercial driving license restored.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was a Massachusetts-licensed commercial driver who collided with members of the Jarheads motorcycle club in June of 2019. Following the crash, Zhukovskyy admitted to police that he’d consumed a cocktail of illegal drugs that morning.  In the investigation following the crash, Zhukovskyy’s past drug charges and traffic violations came to light. That caused a scandal resulting in the resignation of the head of Massachusetts’ Registry of Motor Vehicles, when it turned out that state had a massive backlog of commercial driving infractions that had not been dealt with in a timely fashion; Zhukovskyy had been arrested for impaired driving in that state only days before the crash with the Jarheads.

However, despite Zhukovskyy’s history and admittance of using illegal drugs, he was acquitted of all charges at trial. His defense successfully argued the police had not proved Zhukovskyy was impaired at the time of the trial. The defense also countered that the lead rider of the Jarheads was himself legally impaired, with a blood alcohol content well over the legal limit. The defense’s experts reconstructed the scene of the accident and said the Jarheads’ leader caused the crash by crossing the centerline, initiating a chain of events that caused Zhukovskyy to collide with the other riders.

The end result was acquittal on all charges for Zhukovskyy, but the judge still ordered him deported to Ukraine despite the fact the Ukrainian national had been in the US since childhood, holding a green card legally. That deportation didn’t happen, because of the ongoing war with Russia. Zhokovskyy is still here, and now he wants to resume commercial driving.

Here’s what NECN wrote after an administrative hearing took place, to determine whether Zhukovskyy’s commercial driving license should be restored.

Restoration of Zhukovskky’s license would depend on whether hearings officer Ryan McFarland decides Zhukovskyy drove “in an unlawful and reckless manner” that “materially contributed” to the accident, according to state law. McFarland took the case under advisement after the hearing. If he finds in favor of the state, Zhukovskyy’s license could remain suspended for up to seven years.

As NECN points out, New Hampshire’s governor and attorney general both expressed their unhappiness with the verdict in the Zhukovskyy trial. That certainly doesn’t mean Zhukovskyy’s licence will remain suspended despite his not-guilty verdict at trial. Indeed, as long as he isn’t eventually deported, it seems inevitable he will regain his commercial license eventually—unless his pending Connecticut impaired driving case goes badly for him. The charges from that incident, which happened before the Jarheads crash, appear to still be hanging over him, as the Boston Globe reports he turned down a plea deal in early January.