Victims Of N.H. Motorcycle Crash Identified, Truck Driver’s Dad Says Son Is Cooperating

Officials have identified seven bikers that were killed when a pickup truck hauling a trailer collided with a group of 10 motorcycles on a rural highway Friday.

Four of the victims were from New Hampshire, two were from Massachusetts and one was from Rhode Island, Jane Young, of the New Hampshire attorney general's office, told reporters Sunday.

The victims were Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook, New Hampshire; Albert Mazza, 49, of Lee, New Hampshire; Daniel Pereria, 58, of Riverside, Rhode Island; Joanne and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Massachusetts; Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord, New Hampshire and Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington, New Hampshire, Young said.

"I don't think any of us can understand how these families are doing," Young said. "I don't think the word devastation can begin to describe the pain and the anguish."

Investigators have identified the driver of the pickup truck involved in the Friday evening crash as 23-year-old Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy, an employee of a Springfield, Massachusetts-area transportation company.

A reporter reached a man by phone Sunday at a listing for Zhukovskyy.

The man who answered identified himself as Zhukovskyy's father and said his son is cooperating with authorities back in Massachusetts. The man declined to comment further.

All men were members of the JarHeads MC, and the women were supporters, Young said. The motorcycle club includes Marines and their spouses.

The crash in remote northern New Hampshire sent shockwaves through New England's communities of motorcyclists and military veterans, which often overlap.

"When something like this happens, we all feel it," said Cat Wilson, who organizes a motorcycle charity event in Massachusetts and is a friend of some of the crash victims. "There is no tighter community than our biker community."

"This is one of the worst tragic incidents that we have investigated here in the state," New Hampshire State Police Col. Chris Wagner said at a Saturday news conference in nearby Lancaster. "It's going to be a very lengthy investigation."

A 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer of the kind used to haul cars collided with the bikers around 6:30 p.m. Friday on U.S. 2, a two-lane highway in Randolph, police said. Randolph is about a two-hour drive north of Concord, the capital, and a three-hour drive from Boston.

Along with the seven dead, state police said, three people were taken to hospitals. Two of them were released Saturday.

The road reopened Saturday, and skid marks were still visible on the road, which has mountains and fields as a backdrop. A patch of burned grass remained.

Bill Brown, a 73-year-old military veteran and motorcyclist, arrived at the scene near a gentle curve in the road to plant flags, calling the victims "brothers in arms" and vowing to keep riding.

Members of the motorcycle community are already organizing help for the victims' families, Wilson said.

A small memorial was held at a church in nearby Berlin on Saturday evening.

The pickup truck was on fire when emergency crews arrived. Witnesses described a "devastating" scene as bystanders tried to help riders lying in the road.

A photo posted by WMUR-TV showed motorcycles and wreckage scattered across the highway and a truck on the shoulder in flames.

The crash created a chaotic scene in the town of about 300 people.

"There was debris everywhere," said Miranda Thompson, 21, of Manchester, who was several cars back and recalled seeing a truck in flames on the side of the highway and six motorcycles.

"People were in the grass," she said. "There were people putting tourniquets on people, trying to make sure they didn't move."

With reporting from The Associated Press' Michael Casey and Patrick Whittle and the WBUR newsroom