SALEM, Ore. (DDN) – An Oregon bicyclist’s husband has filed a lawsuit claiming that a Drug Enforcement Administration agent was negligent for running a stop sign during a drug surveillance operation, which led to her death.
Mark A. Meleason, the spouse of Marganne Allen, 53, has filed a lawsuit for $2.5 million, claiming that Samuel Landis, 39, acted negligently and led to Allen’s death on March 28, 2023, in Salem.
Meleason’s lawsuit claims that the DEA, Salem Police, and Oregon State Police permitted authorities to break traffic laws while carrying out a sting operation on a suspected drug dealer. He claimed that there was no emergency when Landis went through the stop sign and that there were no urgent situations that would allow task force members to speed or break traffic laws, according to the court documents.
Landis faced charges of criminally negligent homicide in Marion County Circuit Court, but the case moved to federal court. This year, it was dismissed after a judge determined he was immune from prosecution. His attorneys successfully argued that he was a DEA agent conducting surveillance on a suspected drug dealer while on duty, which granted him a federal defense of immunity.
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Mark A. Meleason, the victim’s husband, is not in agreement with the ruling.
“His driving behavior was like playing Russian roulette with his vehicle aimed at the public,” Meleason told the Salem Statesman Journal. “The judge’s decision granted Landis immunity for killing my wife, my soulmate.”
David Angeli, the attorney for Landis, stated that his client was involved in a police operation aimed at addressing the fentanyl crisis in the region. This comes despite Marion County prosecutors claiming that Landis was neither in danger nor facing an emergency when he struck Allen.
Reference: Husband of woman killed by DEA agent files $2.5M lawsuit
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