Defense questions timeline, accounts before fatal crash
LANCASTER, n.h. (AP) » Prosecutors in the case of a truck driver who’s charged with causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in northern New Hampshire in 2019 called several witnesses Tuesday to set up a timeline of the truck-tractor trailer’s path before the crash, but the defense questioned the accounts and said the testimony didn’t prove it was the same vehicle.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 25, of West Springfield, Mass., is scheduled to face trial on Nov. 29 on multiple counts of negligent homicide, manslaughter, driving under the influence and reckless conduct stemming from the crash that happened in Randolph on June 21, 2019. He pleaded not guilty.
The victims, members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, were from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Prosecutors called as witnesses three Littleton firefighters who responded to a fallen tree on Interstate 93, and a driver traveling on Route 2 with a background in commercial trucks.
The firefighters, who were in a crossover near the Vermont state line, testified they saw a truck hauling a trailer coming close to them before the driver corrected and continued. The Route 2 driver testified that he was heading west when he saw an eastbound truck with a trailer come halfway into his lane before pulling back.
Defense attorney Steven Mirkin said none of the witnesses could recall the name of the company on the truck, Westfield
Transport, or any of its identifying numbers.
Police: 2 officers, suspect shot during hours-long standoff
Boston (AP) » Two Boston Police officers and a suspect were shot Tuesday during a standoff in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood, police said.
The standoff with the suspect barricaded in a home had gone on for more than five hours when gunfire erupted, Boston Police Detective John Boyle, a department spokesperson, said, according to the Boston Globe.
The report of shots fired came in at about
3:25 p.m.
The suspect suffered life-threatening injuries, Boston Police Officer Kim Tavares, a spokesperson for the department, said. The two officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to a hospital, she said.
Police had blocked off the area around the standoff.
The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the union representing patrol officers, asked the public to pray for the officers.
“Two of our officers transported to hospital after
Sen. Warren’s concerns over COVID19 book draw lawsuit
SEATTLE (AP) » A small publishing company in Vermont is suing U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, saying her chastising Amazon over the sale of a book that promotes misinformation about COVID-19 amounted to censorship.
The company, Chelsea Green, published a book called “The Truth About COVID-19,” which accuses the “global elite” of using the pandemic to grab “unprecedented power.”
It also promotes unproven and possibly dangerous treatments for the coronavirus, while falsely suggesting COVID-19 vaccines approved by the government have not been properly tested.
In a letter in September, the Massachusetts Democrat accused Seattle-based Amazon of peddling misinformation. Warren also issued a news release suggesting the company’s actions were “unethical, unacceptable, and potentially unlawful.”