Tuesday, September 6, 2016

LEOTTA MEMORIAL CHECKPOINT

    The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office conducted a Sobriety Checkpoint along Maryland Route 260 between Rt. 778 and Thomas Avenue beginning Friday, September 2nd at 11:09 p.m. and concluded it at 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, September 3rd.  Both the eastbound and westbound traffic lanes were monitored during this checkpoint.

    There were 16 Calvert County Sheriff’s Office deputies and 1 Maryland State Trooper assigned to work the checkpoint.  412 motorists entered the sobriety checkpoint and 11 were pulled to the side for testing or for probable cause searches based on the odor of marijuana. There were 4 DUI arrests made during the checkpoint operation and 5 arrests were made for controlled dangerous substance law violations. Cpl. Moschetto made an additional arrest of an impaired driver while travelling home after the checkpoint operation was completed.

    The checkpoint operation was dedicated to the memory of Ofc. Noah Leotta of the Montgomery County Police Department.   Ofc. Noah Leotta’s father, Rich Leotta addressed the deputies and trooper in attendance at the briefing. Other members of Ofc. Leota’s family, who are Calvert County residents, also attended the checkpoint.  Ofc. Noah Leotta was struck by a drunk driver in December of 2015 while conducting a traffic stop working holiday DUI saturation patrol. Since his son’s death Rich Leotta and other family members and organizations have been working diligently to get stiffer penalties for DUI offenders. Noah’s Law, which governs interlock devices and takes effect October 1st, is a result of the efforts of Noah’s family, co-workers, friends and organizations to crack down on impaired drivers.