RANDOLPH, N.H. (WMUR/CNN) – Officials have identified the driver of a pickup truck involved in a crash in New Hampshire on Friday that killed seven motorcyclists.
23-year-old Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy of West Springfield, Massachusetts was behind the wheel of a Dodge 2500 with an attached trailer.
Several of the motorcyclists involved were Marine veterans and members of a motorcycle club.
Scotty Swann is at a loss for words, still in shock over what happened to his fellow Marines last night on a stretch of Route 2 in Randolph. “I just… it’s hard to even explain it,” Swann said. “All our people… just good, hard-charging Marines.”
They were part of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club and had just left the Mount Jefferson View Hotel for an event at the American Legion.
Dawn Brindley of New Boston was among the riders en route. “We came up here to enjoy this beautiful scenery and all this happens… all this happens,” Brindley cried. “I was on the inside and I saw the truck. I think I don’t even know… it was all fire, just exploded, and I just laid my bike down and I just rolled.”
Brindley said she was in shock when she was able to get back up on her feet. “Flipped around. Somebody helped me up and I just was hysterical.”
An American flag sits at half-staff at the hotel where the club is staying.
Brindley and Swann returned to the crash site to place down more flags, one for each victim, vowing to make sure they’ll never be forgotten.
Swann said, “I just hope when somebody drives by they maybe take a thought of what happened and countless families that are just devastated.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time with them and they’re the most wonderful, most caring Marines,” Brindley explained. “I mean, Marines—like I said—are a tight bond of brothers and sisters. And the families are tight. We’re just one group. We all have one cause and that’s to help veterans.”
Zhukovskyy was arrested Monday morning and charged with seven counts of negligent homicide.
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