Connecticut trooper swept away in Ida flooding laid to rest
Hundreds of mourners, including law enforcement officers from across the nation, gathered at an outdoor music theater in Connecticut Thursday for the funeral of a state police trooper who was swept away in floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
Sgt. Brian Mohl, a 26-year veteran of the department, was working the overnight shift when he called for help around 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 2, saying his vehicle had become trapped in rising flood waters near the Pomperaug River in Woodbury.
Dive teams found his empty vehicle in the river just after daybreak. Mohl, who was 50, was found an hour later further down the river.
“Sgt. Brian Mohl pursued what was good and right for decades along the highways and back roads of this state,” Rev. Michael Dolan, a state police chaplain, told mourners at the Xfinity Theater in Hartford. “In a moment, that pursuit concluded and we find ourselves here.”
Mohl was remembered as a hard working, blunt, straight-shooting trooper who loved the midnight shift. He also was eulogized as a kind and generous family man and friend, who had a nickname for everyone. He loved shopping in bulk at Costco, giving gifts and teasing those he loved.
His younger sister Laura Singh remembered how he would sneak around her house changing the toilet paper rolls in the bathrooms so that they pulled from underneath rather than over the top.
Another of his sisters, Frances Gordon, said her brother always seemed to be working.
“It's not a surprise to me that his way of leaving us was via the job,” she said. “Service to the greater good, right?”
Mohl is survived by his wife, Susan, a 14-year-old son, two stepchildren and three grandchildren.
He is is the 25th Connecticut trooper to die in the line of duty since the agency was formed in 1903, the department said.
An honor guard fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played taps as the funeral concluded, before a final call was transmitted across the state police radio system to thank Mohl for his service.
“Your brothers and sisters will take the watch from here,” it concluded.
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