The Olney man who police said was behind the wheel of the vehicle that struck Montgomery County police Officer Noah Leotta, causing injuries that killed the 24-year-old officer in December, was indicted Thursday.
Police announced Luis Gustavo Reluzco, 47, was indicted on charges of vehicular manslaughter and failure to make a lane change or slow to a reasonable speed to make way for an emergency vehicle. If convicted of the vehicular manslaughter charge, Reluzco faces up to 10 years in prison. Police said Reluzco turned himself in at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 1 p.m. Thursday.
Police said the collision on Rockville Pike in Rockville happened after Reluzco was drinking at the nearby Hooters restaurant. Leotta had been conducting a traffic stop as part of a holiday task force aimed at combating drunken driving when Reluzco’s Honda CR-V struck the officer and his cruiser around 9:45 p.m. Dec. 3 near the intersection of Edmonston Drive. The officer died from his injuries after spending nearly a week on life support at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.
Leotta’s death led to calls from county Police Chief Tom Manger to toughen drunken driving laws in the state.
On Wednesday, Leotta’s father, Richard Leotta, appeared at a press conference at the General Assembly in Annapolis to support Noah’s Law—a state bill that would require all drivers convicted of drunken driving to blow into a breathalyzer before being able to start their vehicles, which is not required under current law. Police said previously Reluzco had been arrested twice before on drunken driving charges in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy and Manger are scheduled to appear at a press conference with Leotta’s family members Friday afternoon at Montgomery County Circuit Court to discuss the indictment. Police said no additional information about the collision or the investigation will be released until Friday’s press conference.
Police have said a blood test was taken to determine if Reluzco was intoxicated at the time of the collision, but did not release the results of that test when announcing the indictment Thursday.
