A bridge in Southington will honor a Connecticut State Police trooper who died in the line of duty in 2024 when he was struck and killed by a man who was on multiple types of drugs while behind the wheel.
The Jude Lane overpass above Interstate 84 — the same highway where Trooper First Class Aaron Pelletier was hit by a fleeing motorist — was dedicated and renamed after the slain trooper during a ceremony on Friday.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, state Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto, Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner Ronnell Higgins and Connecticut State Police Col. Daniel Loughman were among those expected to be in attendance and joined by local officials and members of the law enforcement community.
According to state police, the ceremony marking the bridge naming honored the life and service of Pelletier. New signs under the overpass alert motorists to its dedication to the slain trooper.
Pelletier was struck and killed as he was conducting a traffic stop for a seatbelt compliance check on I-84 in Southington on May 30, 2024. The man who hit him, who was later identified as 45-year-old Alex Oyola-Sanchez, continued driving after the crash, with a witness following him and telling authorities that he looked back multiple times to see who he had hit.
Oyola-Sanchez allegedly admitted to police that he used 15 bags of fentanyl as well as powdered cocaine before falling asleep in his truck prior to the crash, according to the police report. He said he took what he believed was a Klonopin pill to “straighten himself out” after he woke up, the report said.
Oyola-Sanchez was sentenced in April to 18 years in prison after taking a plea deal months earlier, pleading guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter.
Pelletier was 34 years old and a nine-year veteran of the police force. He was married and had young sons.
