By Steve Neavling
The husband of a Salem cyclist killed by a speeding DEA agent has filed a new lawsuit, this time accusing Oregon state agencies of failing to train and supervise the agent who caused her death.
Mark Meleason is seeking $9.5 million from the Oregon State Police and Department of Justice over the March 2023 death of his wife, Marganne Allen, who was struck while riding her bike home from work. The suit, filed March 21 in Marion County Circuit Court, alleges the agencies created unsafe traffic policies and failed to properly plan surveillance operations, according to the Salem Reporter.
“They failed to form proper policy on how and when an agent such as Landis can/should disobey state traffic laws,” the suit says, “when they knew, or should have known, an improper policy could lead to injuries/death of civilians.”
Allen, a state Department of Agriculture executive, was riding through an intersection on Southeast High Street when DEA agent Samuel Landis ran a stop sign at roughly 18 mph in his Dodge Ram truck. He was attempting to rejoin a surveillance team tracking a suspected fentanyl trafficker, according to court testimony.
Landis had been indicted for criminally negligent homicide, but a federal judge dismissed the charge in November, ruling he had immunity as a federal agent acting within his duties. The state Justice Department is appealing that dismissal at the request of the Marion County District Attorney’s Office.
The lawsuit mirrors claims from a separate federal case Meleason filed in January against Landis, the DEA, and the city of Salem. State police and the DOJ were also named in that suit, but Meleason’s attorneys dropped the federal claims against them after the agencies argued they were immune from such lawsuits in federal court.
Meleason is seeking $2.5 million in economic damages for medical bills, funeral expenses, and lost earnings, and $7 million for emotional distress and loss of companionship. He said the loss of Allen caused him “mental and physical pain and suffering, mental anguish and emotional distress.”
The state police declined to comment, and the DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
