ENFIELD, Conn. — Fallen Trooper First Class Aaron Pelletier's family will be the handlers of his retired K9 partner Roso in the Connecticut K9 Olympics, according to an announcement Wednesday.
Aaron Pelletier's wife, Dominique, and two sons, Troy and Zachary, will participate in the K9 Olympics course, the organization said. They will be escorted by TFC Alston of State Police Troop K, who was a K9 handler partner to Aaron Pelletier.
The event website notes that the Connecticut K9 Olympics is an "all-day competition" held on Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 285 Shaker Road in Enfield, featuring K9 units from local police departments, state police and the Department of Corrections. 2024 marks the event's 32nd year, will include an "arena style setting," and will have competitions such as a "tactical drill, obedience, obstacles and a K9 apprehension drill."
Money raised in the event through apparel sales, food and donations will go to local charities, according to the website. For 2024, proceeds will go to the Hometown Foundation Special Olympics and the Mark-9 organization, along with charities chosen by the first, second and third place winners.
In 2023, $11,000 was raised for charities including the Dana Farber Foundation, the Hometown Foundation, the Det. Robert "Bobby" Garten Memorial Fund, Mark-9, Kenway's Cause and the Eagle Scouts. More information about the event can be found here.
Pelletier was laid to rest in a funeral service in June after being hit and killed by a pickup truck on May 30 while outside his cruiser as he conducted a traffic stop on Interstate 84 in Southington.
State police said on the day of the crash that Roso, who was in Pelletier's cruiser at the time, was not injured and was taken to their K9 unit by another trooper who came to the scene. Pelletier was still assigned to Troop H patrol with Roso at the time of his death.
The K9 Olympics wrote in a Facebook post that Roso has since been living with Aaron Pelletier's family along with two dog siblings, Molly and Zeus, and a cat named Snoopy.
"Troy and Zachary love to do 'drills' with Roso in the backyard," the organization said. "He loves to chase around the family chickens and rip up the occasional toy, but still has the K9 drive!"
According to Aaron Pelletier's obituary, he graduated from the Connecticut State Police K9 Academy with Roso in December of 2021 as part of the 223rd patrol K9 class. Together, they became a certified Firearms Detection Team in February of 2022.
Aaron Pelletier was also assigned to the Tactical Team as a canine handler, the obituary said.
Sean Humphrey is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at shumphrey@fox61.com.
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