Impaired driver who struck and killed a Connecticut trooper is sentenced to 18 years

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NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — A man who was high on drugs when he struck and killed a Connecticut state trooper on a highway last year was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison, punishment not considered long enough by the trooper’s widow.

Alex Oyola-Sanchez, 45, of Hartford, apologized and asked for forgiveness from the family of Trooper First Class Aaron Pelletier during a hearing at New Britain Superior Court. State troopers and Pelletier’s relatives and friends filled the courtroom.

Pelletier’s widow, Dominique Pelletier, had called for a 30-year prison sentence. Their two sons were 3 and 5 years old when their father was killed.

The 18-year prison term was agreed to by the defense and prosecution when Oyola-Sanchez pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in February.

Pelletier, a nine-year veteran of the state police, was working overtime on a traffic enforcement detail on May 30, 2024, when he pulled over a driver for not wearing a seat belt on Interstate 84 in Southington. As he was talking to the driver, a pickup truck entered the right shoulder and struck Pelletier, his cruiser and the stopped vehicle before driving off.

Oyola-Sanchez was arrested several towns away on I-84 and charged with manslaughter, operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs and several other crimes. According to police, he later told investigators that he snorted fentanyl and cocaine earlier that day.

Oyola-Sanchez had previous convictions in his native Puerto Rico for third-degree murder and three counts of attempted homicide, according to a state bail commissioner.

Pelletier, a Southington native, was the 26th Connecticut trooper to die in the line of duty since the agency was founded in 1903.