Editor’s note: This story is corrected to show that Davit Pluidze pleaded no contest, and Zachary Leffler is from Kentucky. We regret the errors.
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A truck driver from New Jersey has pleaded no contest to causing a crash that killed a young man from Kentucky.
Davit Pluidze pleaded no contest to misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide in the death of 25-year-old Zachary Leffler, of Burlington, Kentucky.
The crash happened in December 2023 on Interstate 80, just west of Route 46. Troopers say Pluidze was heading eastbound when he crossed the median and hit the pickup truck, which was traveling westbound.
Pluidze, of Manville, New Jersey, was led into the crowded courtroom Monday, surrounded by tight security. He could be seen covering his face with his hand.
Among those who spoke before Austintown Judge Scott Hunter was Leffler’s father Joe Leffler and his mother Shannon Ponder.
“He laid four and half hours away from me. I couldn’t arrive in minutes or even an hour. I couldn’t hold my son or ock him. I couldn’t stroke my son’s hair,” Ponder said. “This senselessness and negligence that took my son from me forever, when I was so careful and qualified to raise him to be the extraordinary man, enranges me.”