Trucking company owner sentenced on charges related to crash that killed 7 bikers

By The Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — The owner of a trucking company was sentenced Thursday to two months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for lying to investigators after one of his trucks was accused of causing a crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire.

Dunyadar Gasanov, 39, pleaded guilty in Springfield, Massachusetts, in August to three counts of making false statements to investigators after the 2019 crash involving a driver for a car transport company he owned, Westfield Transport Inc.

Gasanov has also been prohibited from driving commercially while on supervised release and must pay a $300 special assessment.

Gasanov was accused of falsifying driver logs to avoid federal highway safety regulations, including exceeding limits on the number of hours a driver can operate. He also lied to federal investigators about instructing at least one employee to deactivate electronic logging devices in order to exceed the allowable driving hours.

He was also accused of lying to investigators about how long he had known the driver, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who was taken into custody by immigration authorities after he was acquitted of causing the deaths in New Hampshire.

Zhukovskyy — who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine the day of the crash — repeatedly swerved back and forth before the collision and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight impairment charges, and his attorneys said the lead biker was drunk and not paying attention before sliding in front of Zhukovskyy’s truck, which was pulling an empty flatbed trailer.

Gasanov faced up to five years imprisonment, one year of supervised release and a $10,000 fine on each count. His co-defendant, Dartanayan Gasanov, pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Both were indicted in 2021.