The K-9 who served with the Connecticut State trooper who was killed in a hit-and-run last month is set to retire and live with his partner’s family,
Connecticut State Trooper First Class Aaron Pelletier had worked alongside K-9 Roso — a German Shepard — for nearly three years before his death during a routine traffic stop on May 30, according to the Hartford Courant.
“The CSP K9 Unit anticipates an imminent retirement for K9 Roso, who will remain with the Pelletier Family,” the Connecticut State Police said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Pelletier, 44, was working overtime on the traffic enforcement detail when he pulled over a driver not wearing a seatbelt on Interstate 84 in Southington at around 2:36 p.m.
As he was talking to the driver, a pickup truck entered the right shoulder and struck Pelletier, his cruiser and the stopped vehicle before fleeing down the road.
Pelletier was pronounced dead at the scene.
Roso was inside Pelletier’s cruiser at the time of the crash, but wasn’t seriously injured.
Pelletier and Roso graduated together at the Connecticut State Police Academy in December 2021, the outlet reported.
Alex Oyola-Sanchez, the driver of the pickup, was arrested several towns over on I-84 and charged with second-degree manslaughter, operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs and several other crimes.
Oyola-Sanchez’s lawyers entered a not-guilty plea during a court hearing Thursday, the case was continued to July 2.
In the wake of Pelletier’s death, and a show of support for the fallen trooper, Wethersfield town Council Member Rich Bailey (R) suggested the town raise the “thin blue line” flag over town hall.
The flag is traditionally flown to support police officers.
The Wethersfield Town Council, consisting of 6 democrats and 3 republicans, shot down the request claiming that the flag represents divisiveness and racism to some.
The council had already voted to fly the LGBTQ flag in honor of June’s Pride Month and ordered the flag — along with the American and Connecticut state flags — to be flown at half-mast after shooting down the request.
Pelletier’s wife flew her own “thin blue line” flag outside her home to honor her late husband on Friday, The Post reported.
Dominique Pelletier, 34, who shared two sons with her husband, had the flag poignantly flying half-staff outside the family’s home in Southington outside of Hartford even as she received threats for the symbolic gesture.
The widow gave a tearful tribute to her husband at the ceremony saying Pelletier wasn’t just her 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 gossiper,” Dominique said at the funeral last Wednesday.
“The light in our smiles will be forever dimmed and the thought of this world without that laugh seems unimaginable but has already become real,” she said. “I promise to keep you alive in our home, in our heart and in our boys’ memories forever. I love you, and I miss you.”
With Post wires
