Thousands pay tribute to Connecticut state trooper killed during highway traffic stop
HARTFORD, Conn.– Thousands of people, including police officers from across the Northeast and beyond, gathered Wednesday for the funeral of a Connecticut state trooper who was killed by a hit-and-run driver during a traffic stop last week.
Trooper 1st Class Aaron Pelletier34, was remembered as a dedicated public servant and loving husband and father of two young boys.
“He was a man of integrity and honor, and I will ensure that our children always know that those qualities certainly came from him,” his wife Dominique said in a tearful speech. “To my love, you were not just my husband. You were my home. You were my heart. You were my safe place and my provider. My best friend. My secret keeper. My favorite gossip.
“The light in our smiles will be dimmed forever and the thought of a world without them seems unimaginable, but has already become a reality,” she said. “I promise to keep you alive forever in our home, in our hearts and in the memories of our boys. I love you and I miss you.”
Wednesday morning began with a 20-mile procession from a funeral home in Southington to the Hartford amphitheater where the service was held, with dozens of police motorcycles and vehicles escorting a hearse carrying Pelletier’s casket. Fire escape trucks hoisted American flags along the route.
A bagpipe and drum band played at the service, which was also attended by Governor Ned Lamont and other state leaders.
Pelletier, a nine-year veteran of the force based in Hartford, was working overtime at a traffic enforcement agency on May 30 when he stopped a driver not wearing a seat belt on Interstate 84 eastbound in Southington. While he was talking to the driver, a pickup truck drove into the right shoulder, striking Pelletier’s cruiser, Pelletier and the stationary vehicle before speeding away.
The driver of the pickup, Alex Oyola-Sanchez, was arrested several towns away on I-84, state police said. He was charged with second-degree manslaughter, operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs and several other crimes. The New Britain Public Defender’s Office, which is representing him, did not immediately return a message Wednesday.
Pelletier, a Southington native, became the 26th Connecticut soldier to die in the line of duty since the service’s founding in 1903. His police dog, Roso, was in the back of his cruiser at the time but was not seriously injured.
At the funeral, State Police Commander Col. Daniel Loughman posthumously awarded Pelletier two medals, including the State Police Medal of Honor and a Lifesaving Medal. A week before his death, Pelletier helped save a motorcyclist’s life by applying tourniquets to the person’s arms after an accident, Loughman said.
“It was clear to me and everyone who worked with him that he truly loved being a soldier in the state of Connecticut,” Loughman said. “For nine years he showed nothing but devotion to duty.”
A GoFundMe page for Pelletier’s family had raised more than $525,000 as of Wednesday.
A private burial at a cemetery in Southington followed the funeral.