DEADLY DEFICIENCIES
Report: RMV worker didn’t suspend Zhukovskyy’s license after seeing ‘conviction’ notice
The mere seven seconds that an RMV worker looked at a notification that should have triggered the suspension of Volodymyr Zhukovskyy’s driver’s license would lead just weeks later to seven deaths, a shocking new report reveals.
The 60-page preliminary report released Friday from Grant Thornton, an outside firm hired by the state to investigate the records scandal at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, shows multiple employees knew about unprocessed license convictions and did nothing about them.
Most damning is that a worker looked at the data that should have led to the immediate revocation of Zhukovskyy’s license — but instead the file was closed just seven seconds later. Seven motorcyclists were killed in a collision with a truck and trailer Zhukovskyy was driving June 21 in Randolph, N.H.
“The report confirms serious concerns as to the operation of certain aspects of the RMV,” Acting Registrar Jamey Tesler said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack. “We will continue to cooperate fully and comprehensively with both the independent Grant Thornton review, as well as the Legislature’s investigation into the root causes of the RMV’s failures to appropriately discharge its responsibilities.”
The notification from Connecticut about Zhukovskyy’s refusal to take a field sobriety test, which should have resulted in an automatic suspension of his commercial driver’s license, was viewed by Michael Noronha on May 29, 2019. Zhukovskyy is now charged with killing seven veteran motorcyclists in New Hampshire on June 21.
Noronha, an RMV employee in the SPEX Department, opened the trucker’s driving record in the ATLAS Computer system for approximately seven seconds and was able to see the phrase “AAMVA Add Conviction” next to Zhukovskyy’s name, according to the report, before he closed it without making any changes. Noronha did not bring the issue to anyone else’s attention.
Grant Thornton was able to confirm Noronha’s claim that he had not been trained on posting convictions to drivers’ records at the time with FAST Enterprises, which launched the ATLAS system.
His supervisor, Susan Crispin, still leads the SPEX team, which supports a voluntary means for states to electronically check with all other participating states to determine whether an applicant currently holds a driver’s license or identification card in another state.
Crispin knew about the queue of unprocessed notifications prior to the crash, according to the report, but claimed that certain “AAMVA Add Conviction” notifications were erroneously labeled and that she had the impression that SPEX would not need to address them because they would be resolved by ATLAS system modifications.
Grant Thornton determined in the report, though, that Crispin was aware that some of those cases were not erroneous based on emails.
The report also raises more questions about whether the Baker administration and Pollack knew about the out-of-state notifications before the tragic June crash.
Former Registrar Erin Deveney, who resigned over the scandal, told investigators that when she approved the transition of responsibility of processing of paper out-of-state notifications from the Driver Control Unit to another unite called the Merit Rating Board in 2016, they had assistance from a consulting firm. Acelar Inc., was examining key processes to find ways to improve operating efficiencies and she recalls meetings taking place, during which representatives from the governor’s office and the MassDOT would “usually” participate.
Deveney said the transitioning of processing paper out-of-state notifications from the DCU to the MRB was discussed in one of those meetings but she “does not recall” whether in that particular meeting any representatives from the governor’s office or the MassDOT attended.