Man accused of killing 7 bikers in New Hampshire arrested in Baytown
BAYTOWN, Texas (KTRK) -- A young truck driver charged in a deadly accident that killed seven people in New Hampshire had two run-ins with Baytown police in the months leading up to the tragedy.
Portions of the Texas confrontation were captured on police body-worn cameras.
WATCH FULL BODY CAM VIDEO:
Last Friday, 23-year-old Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, a Ukranian national employed as a cross country truck driver, was involved in a crash that left seven people dead.
He is now facing a number of charges.
Prior to that, Zhukovskyy was arrested by Baytown Police in February.
The department tells ABC13 Eyewitness News that officers responded to a possible drunk person causing a disturbance in the Denny's on I-10 East.
"We got dispatched to an intoxicated person call," said Lt. Steve Dorris with Baytown Police. "When they got there, they found him at the counter, rambling to himself, kind of incoherent."
In the video, you can see Zhukovskyy, wearing a blue t-shirt, interacting with officers.
Officers on the scene found a crack pipe and arrested him on a Class C misdemeanor.
He was issued a fine and released.
Records indicate that he paid that fine in March.
The second interaction with police came on June 3, when Zhukovskyy, driving a car hauler, flipped his truck in the same area along I-10 East.
He told officers then that he was swerving to avoid hitting another car.
No injuries were reported and he was not cited in the accident.
At the Denny's, cashier Anita Cash remembers Zhukovskyy as a semi-regular visitor and a big talker.
"He kept bragging about driving a truck," said Cash, who did not see the young trucker get arrested in February, but has seen him since. "I thought he was too young himself, I thought he had a baby face, and I thought he was just here to impress a female or whatever."
After the crash that killed seven last Friday, Cash says she has strong feelings about what should happen to Zukovskyy.
"He needs to be charged for each and every count," she said. "He needs to be accountable for every brother, sister, mother, and wife that he took out."
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