Members of the Newtown Police Department and staff members from Garner Correctional Institution are scheduled to participate on Friday, June 5, in the Connecticut Special Olympics Torch Run segment to be held in Newtown.

Bethel Police Department members are scheduled to hand off the Special Olympics torch to local runners at about 11:15 am that day at the Dodgingtown Firehouse, 55 Dodgingtown Road (Route 302). Local runners will then proceed on a 5.1-mile course that takes them eastward on Dodgingtown Road to Sugar Street and then to the intersection of Sugar Street, Main Street, Glover Avenue, and South Main Street.

The runners — who will also include Special Olympics athletes — will then proceed eastward on Glover Avenue to its intersection with Queen Street, where they will turn left and head northward on Queen Street to its intersection with Church Hill Road. From there, they will run eastward on Church Hill Road to the Blue Colony Diner at 66 Church Hill Road.

Local runners will hand off the Olympic torch to state police from Troop A there, who will then start their leg of the torch run.

Police urge the public to attend the torch run and cheer them on as they run through Newtown. Newtown police are among the many law enforcement agencies across the state that participate in the torch run.

Police Sergeant Matthew Wood, an organizer of the local torch run, said police thank three sponsors of the local torch run – NJK Automotive LLC, Foundry Kitchen and Tavern, and Save Your Scissors Salon – for their financial help with the annual event.

Sgt Wood also expressed thanks to the Newtown schools for their donations which helped raise more than $1,200 for the Special Olympics through the fundraiser known as the Penguin Plunge in March. 

The Special Olympics of Connecticut Summer Games will be held on June 5-7 at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.