In New Britain, Connecticut, an individual charged with a hit-and-run incident resulting in the death of a state trooper entered a guilty plea for manslaughter on Tuesday. This plea includes an 18-year prison sentence, despite objections from the trooper’s widow.
The defendant, Alex Oyola-Sanchez, 45, from Hartford, accepted the plea agreement during a court session at New Britain Superior Court. The sentencing date is set for April 29. Oyola-Sanchez faced charges following an incident on May 30, when Trooper First Class Aaron Pelletier, age 34, who had served nine years on the force, was conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 84 in Southington. He had pulled over a driver for not wearing a seatbelt. During this routine stop, a pickup truck swerved onto the shoulder of the road, colliding with Pelletier’s cruiser and hitting both Pelletier and the stopped vehicle, before fleeing.
Oyola-Sanchez was apprehended several towns away, still on I-84, and was charged with multiple offenses including manslaughter and operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs. During a court proceeding, Dominique Pelletier, the trooper’s widow, voiced her disagreement with the plea deal, expressing a desire for a 30-year sentence instead.
She questioned Oyola-Sanchez’s potential release and the likelihood of repeating such an offense, remarks loaded with grief and anger. “Will he be let out again to kill another person and cause more pain?” she asked the court. “Will I have to reopen these wounds again when he is up for parole? This man had no remorse for what he had just done. He fled the scene with the intent of getting away, leaving my husband lying on the highway, lifeless.”
Aaron Pelletier hailed from Southington and was the 26th Connecticut state trooper to die in the line of duty since the division’s establishment in 1903. During the tragedy, Pelletier’s police dog, Roso, was present in the back of the police vehicle but was not significantly harmed. Pelletier leaves behind a wife and two young sons. In a disturbing revelation, a state bail commissioner previously disclosed Oyola-Sanchez’s past convictions in Puerto Rico, which includes third-degree murder and three attempted homicide charges.
