A department in mourning

Sgt. Dario 'Scott' Aponte

Officers salute as motorcade passes by police headquarters.

Black bunting hangs outside New Haven police headquarters.

Posted Sept. 10, 2008
Updated 6:05 PM

New Haven (WTNH) -- New Haven police officers banded together in a motorcade across the city Wednesday afternoon, a department forever changed by the death of one of their own.

The New Haven police department is draped in black bunting, the flags in front are at half-staff, and the officers wear badges covered with black bands. They are signs of a police force in mourning, grim reminders of the dangers that go along with the job. Tributes to Sgt. Dario 'Scott' Aponte, who died last night in a crash, and Officer Diane Gonzalez, who was badly hurt.

"I've been through this several times and you would think maybe it might get easier," Chief James Lewis said. "It doesn't. For me it seems to get tougher."

Chief Lewis says he spent the early morning hours at Yale-New Haven hospital and he was not alone. Police gathered in large numbers to support the families of their two colleagues and to support one another.

Aponte and Gonzalez are both veterans of the force. They both grew up in New Haven and both have families here.

"You know, when you spend an evening with a family in the hospital, it's just hard to describe. It's like losing a family member," Chief Lewis said.

Which is why the city's police family is hurting.

"There's nothing that anybody can say today, tomorrow or ever to make that hurt go away," said Sgt. Louis Cavalliere, who is also head of the police union, "and it's just a tragic, tragic ending to his career and for his family."

Aponte was promoted to sergeant at a ceremony in July, and moved from the crime scene unit to the graveyard shift patrol. He told the New Haven Register that he was looking forward to the change.

"There's a big transition going on and it's exciting to be part of that transition," Aponte told the Register.

Sgt. Aponte is the latest officer to die from an on the job incident in New Haven.

Officer Dan Picagli died in October, 2006 when he was struck by a car while working extra duty directing traffic at a construction site.

Officer Robert Fumiatti died in 2007 as a result of injuries received when he was shot in the face during a drug bust four years earlier.