Man pleads guilty to vehicular manslaughter in death

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) - A man has pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in a crash that killed a police officer working DUI enforcement.

Forty-seven-year-old Luis Reluzco of Olney entered the plea Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The Washington Post reports (https://wapo.st/1U0b0Gd) that prosecutors say County Police Officer Noah Leotta was conducting a traffic stop in Gaithersburg on Dec. 3 when Reluzco’s car hit Leotta’s cruiser and then the officer.

At the court hearing, prosecutors described Reluzco’s consumption of beer and whiskey at a restaurant before the crash.

Reluzco, who was ordered held without bond, faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing Aug. 23.

Leotta’s death helped spur the effort for the passage this year of “Noah’s Law,” which expands the mandatory use of breath-testing ignition devices for drunk drivers in Maryland.

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Information from: The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com