In 2022, Phillip Nims arrived at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and met Joshua VanderZiel, who would change his life forever.

Nims said he’s an introvert. But VanderZiel was kind, caring and full of life. He helped him settle in, and the two would hang out and talk.

On Aug. 10, 2024, VanderZiel, 21, of Laurel, a Russian linguist for the U.S. Navy, died after he crashed his motorcycle into a flatbed truck in Howard County during an unauthorized high-speed police pursuit.

An Anne Arundel County Police officer, Alexander Rodriguez, chased VanderZiel for more than 4 miles without receiving proper permission. He also never activated his emergency lights or sirens.

Following the fatal crash, Rodriguez slammed on his brakes, made a U-turn and fled the scene. He then returned to Anne Arundel County and continued his shift as if nothing had happened.

“Josh is a man who showed up every day with integrity, loyalty, care for others,” Nims said on Monday in Howard County Circuit Court. “You ran away. Sir, that is cowardice.”

Circuit Judge Maurice C. Frazier said he agreed with the principle that people should not be defined by the worst five minutes of their lives. At the same time, he characterized the conduct in the case as “reprehensible” and an “absolute dereliction of duty.”

Frazier then sentenced Rodriguez, 31, to serve five years, with all but 120 days suspended, plus two years’ supervised probation, for failing to remain at the scene of an accident resulting in death. He must also perform 100 hours of community service.

At the time, Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad called the charges "deeply disturbing and not representative of the men and women of the Anne Arundel County Police Department."

Rodriguez is no longer with the agency.

As part of a plea agreement, Rodriguez is not allowed to seek another position in law enforcement, said Julie Shapiro, deputy chief of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division, which brought the case.

Shapiro read a letter on behalf of Nicole VanderZiel, Joshua VanderZiel’s mother, who sat in the courtroom gallery.

Nicole VanderZiel wrote that there were “no words to describe the anguish of losing my son.”

Rodriguez, she said, has been free for more than one year and eight months. Meanwhile, her son was buried with full military honors at the National Memorial Cemetery at Quantico.

“My heart is buried with my son,” Nicole VanderZiel said.

She described her son as joyful and infinitely and endlessly curious. One time, she said, he taught himself how to write with his left hand. He planned to volunteer with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, travel and start a family.

Every day, Nicole VanderZiel said, she will carry the profound loss. But, she added, “We are broken but not destroyed.”

Peter Fayne, one of Rodriguez’s attorneys, said his client is a loving husband, father and son as well as a dear friend to many people.

“He has accepted full and complete responsibility for his actions that night,” Fayne said. “He extends his deepest condolences to the VanderZiel family.”

Rodriguez declined to make a statement.

Fayne asked the judge to give his client 24 hours to surrender to the Howard County Detention Center. But Frazier denied the request.

“He shall report now,” Frazier said.

Two Howard County sheriff’s deputies handcuffed Rodriguez and escorted him out of the courtroom.