The Quickshift
- Brothers Dunyadar Gasanov and Dartanayan Gasanov owned Westfield Transport, the trucking company that driver Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was driving for when he crashed into 7 members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club in 2019, killing them.
- The Gasanov brothers were indicted on charges of giving false statements to investigators and falsifying record and logs related to the trucking company.
- The driver was acquitted, but Dunyadar Gasanov pleaded guilty to federal charges in August 2024. He is awaiting sentencing, scheduled for November 2024.
- Dartanayan Gasanov attempted to plead guilty in 2021, but the court did not accept that plea. He has currently pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
This is a bit of a weird one.
On Tuesday, one of the two brothers who owned Westfield Transport, the now-defunct trucking company that employed Volodymyr Zhukovskyy (the truck driver acquitted in the deadly 2019 New Hampshire crash that killed seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club), pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the case.
The US Attorney's Office in the District of Massachusetts announced that Dunyadar Gasanov, also known as Damien Gasanov, pleaded guilty to three counts of making false statements to investigators.
Along with his brother, Dartanayan Gasanov, Dunyadar was previously indicted on these charges in February 2021. His brother, co-defendant, and former co-owner of Westfield Transport has pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Why is it strange? Because Dartanayan Gasanov already attempted to plead guilty to these charges three years ago, according to local newspaper the Berlin Sun. But his pleas in November 2021 were rejected at that time by U.S. District Court Judge Mark Mastroianni, who was and remains in charge of the case.
So, what are the charges, exactly?
The three charges are the following:
- That allegedly, between the dates of May 3, 2019 and June 23, 2019, both Dunyadar and Dartanayan Gasanov falsified driving logs in order to evade federal regulations.
- That allegedly, Dunyadar Gasanov also instructed at least one Westfield Transport employee to also falsify records regarding drivers exceeding the federally permissible number of driving hours, which are set out of concerns for the safety of both drivers and fellow road users.
- That allegedly, Dunyadar Gasanov claimed to inspectors that he only met Volodymyr Zhukovskyy on the day he hired him, when he had in actual fact known Zhukovskyy for years, and also knew that he'd previously been charged with a DUI.
Sentencing for Dunyadar Gasanov has been scheduled by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to take place on November 21, 2024. As for Dartanayan Gasanov, since he has entered a plea of not guilty, he is currently awaiting trial.
What happened after the Gasanov brothers were first indicted in 2021?
In February 2021, both brothers were indicted on four charges each of falsifying records, conspiring to falsify records, and providing false statements in a federal investigation.
Later that year, at a hearing on October 26, 2021, Dartanayan Gasanov decided to plea guilty to the charges. But as the Berlin Sun reported at that time, "[Judge] Mastroianni said the court would not accept the plea change because he was not satisfied that Dartanayan was knowingly and voluntarily admitting to the alleged offenses against him."
It's not clear what circumstances led to that decision in 2021, nor to the most recent decision to accept a guilty plea from Dunyadar Gasanov instead in 2024.
What is clear is that the repercussions of that horrific crash are far from over, first and foremost for the families of the riders killed, as well as those who had any involvement in the circumstances surrounding how this driver was even still driving at the time of the crash.
This is an ongoing and developing story, and we'll be sure to post updates on RideApart as they happen.
