The man who killed Montgomery Co. police officer Noah Leotta was sentenced to 10 years for vehicular manslaughter. (WUSA 9)

The man who killed Montgomery Co. police officer Noah Leotta was sentenced to 10 years for vehicular manslaughter. (WUSA 9)

Moments before a judge sentenced the drunk driver who killed Rich Leotta’s son, the father stood in a Maryland courtroom Thursday and tried to explain the night his life crumbled.

There was a knock on the door.

Two police officers were standing there, telling him and his wife to go with them to a hospital. Noah, their 24-year-old son, also an officer, had been struck by a car.

“I was hoping: Noah’s strong. My boy’s strong,” Rich Leotta told a Montgomery County judge. “He’s always in the gym. He’s going to make it.”

His emotions and sadness were shared by more than 190 people in court, including dozens of uniformed officers, during the 3½ -hour hearing for Luis Reluzco, 47, of Olney, the driver. The case — made all the more tragic because Leotta was working a special assignment to catch drunk drivers — captured national attention and led to the passage of Noah’s Law, designed to curb drunken driving in Maryland.

The Leotta family, parents Rich and Marcia and daughter Shana, in February. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Reluzco received the maximum sentence of 10 years for vehicular manslaughter from Circuit Court Judge Ann S. Harrington.

“This fine young man, this dedicated police officer had his life taken away by the very [kind of] person that he was out there trying to detect in order to keep everyone else safe,” Harrington said.

“By your choice,” the judge told Reluzco, “you condemned to death one of the bright lights of this community.”

Reluzco probably will not have to serve the full 10 years. Through credits for good behavior and for participating in prison programs, he could trim the sentence by as much as five years. He could also be released on parole supervision. Because vehicular manslaughter is categorized as a nonviolent offense in Maryland, he will become eligible for parole consideration after a quarter of the 10-year sentence.

“Justice was served,” Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said after the hearing, “as best it can be.”

[The statement Richard Leotta filed to the judge on the impact of son’s death]

Leotta was a likable patrol officer who had volunteered to work a holiday-season anti-drunk-driving task force on Dec. 3, 2015.

Just before 10 p.m., on that Thursday night, he pulled over a car on Rockville Pike and got out to speak with the driver. About that same time, evidence showed, Reluzco pulled out from a Hooters restaurant, one mile away, where he had drunk beer and whiskey for four hours after earlier smoking marijuana and taking a Xanax.

Reluzco was driving a Honda CR-V and had a blood alcohol concentration nearly three times the legal limit. He hit the rear corner of Leotta’s police cruiser and then Leotta.

Leotta spent a week in the hospital before dying of his injuries Dec. 10.

[Earlier: ‘My insanely stupid decision.” A drunk driver apologizes for killing officer]

Reluzco, a former bartender at the Bethesda Country Club, spoke for 10 minutes in court Thursday, his first public comments in the case. He faced Leotta’s family and spoke directly to his parents.

“I want to say, first, that I am eternally sorry for what I’ve done,” Reluzco said. “Anything that happens to me is not enough. What I do is I think about your son and your family every night. And I pray for his soul in heaven. And I pray that he comforts you and gives you some peace.”

Reluzco had three previous arrests for drunken driving, from 1987 to 1999. Each time, Harrington said, he was given leniency.

On Thursday, Reluzco said he had been drinking and driving for 30 years. “I have a problem,” he said, adding, “It’s amazing that I didn’t kill someone before.”

In handing down her sentence, Harrington noted the “unfathomable pain” felt by Leotta’s family and friends, as reflected in more than 40 letters she received and by statements made Thursday.

Rich Leotta described arriving at Suburban Hospital the night of Dec. 3, when it was filling with police officers and clergy. He knew, right away, that Noah’s strength alone couldn’t save him.

He spoke about life now and of how he tries to be strong for others in his family.

“There are times when I go into the woods with the dogs, walking Noah’s dog, and I just cry,” he said.

Leotta’s mother, Marcia Goldman, also spoke about her son, sitting at a table in front of the judge.

“I’m Noah’s mom,” she began.

Reluzco sat about 20 feet away in a green inmate jumpsuit and with a sad, blank look on his face.

Goldman spoke about how frightened Noah had been as a child, bringing his sleeping bag into their bedroom so he could sleep next to their bed. He struggled in school but later became enthralled about law enforcement. He transformed his body and joined the Montgomery force.

“He wanted to make a difference in the world and to try to help people,” she said.

Her son’s death has devastated her.

“I’ve lost my joy, and every minute of every day I am reminded that I lost my Noah and he will never come back to me,” she said.

[The statement from Luis Reluzco to the sentencing judge]

After the crash, the Hooters restaurant on Rockville Pike signed an agreement with the county to surrender its alcohol license Nov. 1 and close permanently.

Since their son’s death, his family has worked tirelessly to toughen drunken driving laws. Their efforts led to the passage of Noah’s Law, which expands the mandatory use of ignition locks — devices that require drivers to blow into a tube before starting their cars.

Reluzco, in his remarks in court to Leotta’s family, said he had followed their efforts.

“I think that your resilience, your courage and the strength that you show by pursuing Noah’s Law is amazing,” he said.