"Heroes Live Forever" - the story of Montgomery County (MD) Police Officer Noah Leotta

He was struck and killed by a drunk driver. But his legacy is a law that bears his name--"Noah's Law"--one of the most important traffic-safety reforms in Maryland history.

Noah A. Leotta

McLean, VA (March 24, 2026) - Noah Leotta was just 24 years old and had served nearly three years with the Montgomery County (MD) Police Department. On the night of December 3, 2015, Noah was working a specialized assignment he believed in deeply — the Holiday Alcohol Task Force, a team dedicated to stopping impaired drivers during the most dangerous season of the year. Noah had volunteered for the assignment out of a passion for ridding the roadways of drunken drivers. In a tragic twist of fate, while working to protect others from impaired drivers, Noah was struck by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver. His injuries were catastrophic. After a week in the hospital, surrounded by family, Noah died on December 10. But his story did not end in tragedy. His family channeled their grief into a determined fight—not for themselves, but for every family who might one day face the same tragedy. Just months after Noah’s death, the state of Maryland enacted what is widely known as “Noah’s Law”—one of the nation’s toughest laws to prevent drunk driving. The law requires that all convicted drunk drivers—even first-time offenders—must install ignition interlock devices on their vehicles to prevent them from driving drunk.

Listen to the podcast to hear the rest of the story: https://open.substack.com/pub/behindbadge/p/heroes-live-forever-the-story-of-5fd