LANCASTER, N.H. — Officials prosecuting the driver of a pickup truck in a collision that killed seven motorcyclists want an outside consultant to conduct tests on the vehicle without members of the man’s defense team present, according to documents filed in a New Hampshire court.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, has been charged in connection with a June crash in New Hampshire that killed seven motorcyclists. Don Treeger/The Republican via Associated Press

The state has custody of the Dodge Ram truck and an attached trailer involved in the Randolph, New Hampshire, crash in June. State officials said their own consultant “may conduct testing or take additional measurements of the truck.” It would document the vehicle’s condition before and afterward.

Prosecutors likened the request to executing a search warrant and said the defense team’s insistence on being present “is without merit.”

The motion filed in Coos County Superior Court in Lancaster said the lawyer for driver Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who is charged with negligent homicide, objected unless someone from the defense team can be at the truck testing.

Zhukovskyy, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, has pleaded not guilty.

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