Thin Blue Line Flag Displayed on Interstate to Honor Fallen Ohio Trooper

A Thin Blue Line flag has been hung on an interstate sign outside of Cleveland to honor a veteran Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper killed in 2016.

The flag adorns a sign along Interstate 90 in Lakewood that identifies a stretch of the roadway named for Trooper Kenny Velez, cleveland.com reports. The sign—which reads "Officer Kenny Velez Memorial Highway"—and the Blue Lives Matter flag are near the Lakewood's Warren Road exit.

Velez was killed while working traffic enforcement Sept. 15, 2016. He was outside his cruiser when he was struck by Joshua Gaspar, who swerved out of his lane to avoid a crash. Velez had been with the agency for 27 years.

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Gaspar was acquitted of aggravated vehicular homicide, but he was convicted of other charges and sentence to a year in jail.

Another stretch of I-90 has also been renamed to honor a fallen law enforcement officer. Cleveland Police Officer David Fahey was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on the interstate in 2017, and a memorial sign was placed on an overpass in Lakewood.

A Blue Lives Matter flag was hung on top of the memorial sign by Fahey's family last year. The family was asked to take the flag down by the state.

Although individuals must get permission from the Ohio Department of Transportation in order to hang signs or banners along the interstate, the agency says the flag isn't creating any safety hazards or maintenance issues.

“It is too early to decide if the flag will be removed,” Brent Kovacs, a transportation department spokesman, told cleveland.com.