By Sandra Diamond Fox
The Middletown Press, Conn.
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. — The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has paid the full mortgage for the family of fallen Connecticut First Class Trooper Aaron Pelletier, the foundation said in a statement.
On May 30, 2024, Pelletier, 34, was struck and killed on I-84 East while conducting a traffic stop in Southington. He was a nine-year veteran of the state police and leaves behind his wife, Dominique Pelletier, and their two sons, the statement said.
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“Aaron was a first responder, husband, and a father, and the center of his family’s world. He put on the uniform to protect others, but his greatest pride was being there for his boys. By paying off this mortgage, we’re protecting his family the way he protected all of us,” said Tunnel to Towers Chairman and CEO Frank Siller in the statement.
Pelletier was driving east on I-84 in Southington, looking for traffic violators through a “high visibility motor vehicle enforcement” grant to reduce deadly crashes when he spotted someone who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, state police said.
He pulled the person over and was outside of his patrol car, talking to the driver, when a red pickup sideswiped his cruiser and struck him, police said. The man who struck him, Alex Oyola-Sanchez, was later sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter.
Weeks before he died, he received a life-saving award for being the first to arrive at the scene of a serious crash involving a motorcyclist, where he applied a tourniquet and saved the person’s life, the statement said.
The Tunnel to Towers Foundation pays off the mortgages for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty or who die from 9/11-related illnesses, and leave behind young children, the statement said.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. In tribute to the 343 members of the New York City Fire Department who lost their lives on that day, Tunnel to Towers is paying the mortgage of 343 families, the statement said.
Additionally, the new Mae and George Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation Scholarship will provide full scholarships for undergraduate degree programs and certified and accredited trade programs for the children Pelletier left behind, the statement said.
“College may be a long way away for my children, but I can already see the cost rising in the next 10 years. By paying for my boys to attend college, it will keep up with their father’s legacy of academics and work ethic ... both boys want to become state troopers, just like Aaron,” Dominique Pelletier said in the statement.
For more information on the Tunnel to Towers Fallen First Responder Program and the Mae and George Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation Scholarship, visit T2T.org.
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