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Widow of Rutland detective seeks state line-of-duty benefits for COVID-linked death
Summary
At a May 7 Joint Committee on Public Service hearing, Joanne Sonji asked lawmakers to pass S.1831 to recognize her husband, Detective John Sonji, as having died in the line of duty after contracting COVID-19 in 2020; legal appeals over retirement-board denials are ongoing.
Joanne Sonji asked the Joint Committee on Public Service on May 7 to pass S.1831, legislation to provide state line-of-duty death benefits after her husband, Rutland Police Detective John Sonji, died following a 36-day battle with COVID-19 in 2020.
Sonji told the committee she has been financially responsible for household obligations since her husband’s death and that two prior bills filed on her behalf stalled in the Legislature. "Receiving the state line of duty death benefits will not bring my husband back nor will it end my grief. Rather, it…
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