Aaron Pelletier, 44, was killed in a May 30 hit-and-run while conducting a routine traffic stop, when a drunk driver hit him on Interstate 84.
Pelletier, a husband and father of two, died on the scene.
On the nine-member Wethersfield Town Council, Republican council member Rich Bailey proposed flying the Thin Blue Flag, the traditional law enforcement flag, at City Hall to honor the life of Pelletier. That proposal was voted down, however, by the Democrats.
“It represents racism and antagonism to many, many people,” Emily Zambello, who voted against the proposal, told a local TV news station.
Wethersfield’s deputy mayor, Matthew Forest, also voiced opposition based on a Wikipedia passage, which he read at the city council member. It said the flag is used by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
Wethersfield, a town of approximately 28,000, is located in Hartford County, Connecticut. The county supported Joe Biden over Donald Trump 65%-35% in the 2020 election.
Law enforcement advocate Randy Sutton, of The Wounded Blue, says it doesn’t matter what a Wikipedia page says about the flag.
“The Thin Blue Line flag is really about honoring the dead law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty,” he says. “That's what it was created for.”
Nobody on the town council really believes a flag honoring law enforcement is a literal symbol of white supremacy, even if it’s misused for that purpose, Sutton says.
“The politicians who run that community don't care about what the truth is,” Sutton tells AFN. “They only care about their political ideology.”
Not only did the Town of Wethersfield refuse to raise the Thin Blue Flag for the fallen state trooper, the town government was already flying the deviant “Pride Flag” on its pole to recognize "Pride Month." So the town lowered that flag to half-staff instead.
