ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown is set to pay out more than $125,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging a city police officer seriously injured two city residents when he crashed his cruiser into their car two years ago.
Jose Rodriguez Angeles and Liselot Ulloa Rodriguez in April sued the city, Allentown Police Department and Officer Zane Struss, seeking more than $50,000 each in connection with a collision on Nov. 28, 2022.
They were driving west on Greenleaf Street through its intersection with Jordan Street about 6:30 p.m. that day when their vehicle was hit by an Allentown police vehicle driven by Struss, the lawsuit alleges.
Ulloa Rodriguez is due to receive $82,500 under the terms of the settlement with Allentown and the police department, while Rodriguez Angeles settled for $45,000.Attorney Theodore Levy
Struss was driving south on Jordan Street as he responded to help other officers, according to the suit.
He drove through the intersection “at a high rate of speed and did not have the lights and sirens of his police cruiser on,” attorney Theodore Levy wrote in the suit.
“When they don’t [have the signals on, officers are] expected to obey the rules,” Levy told LehighValleyNews.com on Monday.
Struss’ police cruiser hit the passenger side of Rodriguez Angeles’ vehicle, where Ulloa Rodriguez was sitting, the lawsuit states.
Struss, a patrolman, would have entered a one-way street going the wrong direction if he didn’t hit their vehicle, Levy said.
Ulloa Rodriguez is set to receive $82,500 under the terms of the settlement with Allentown and the police department, while Rodriguez Angeles settled for $45,000, Levy said Monday.
Those payments will cover medical treatments and other expenses they’ve faced since the November 2022 crash, he said.
Administrative leave after fatal shooting
Less than three months after the crash, Officer Struss was involved in a fatal shooting.
Authorities say he was patrolling near Eighth and Linden streets the night of Feb. 10 when he saw an altercation between two men and a woman.
One of the men approached Struss’ police vehicle and said
20-year-old Xavier Arnold pistol whipped himand still was armed, then-Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said.
Then-Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin cleared Struss of any wrongdoing in the shooting.James Martin
Struss ordered Arnold, of Coplay, to drop a gun after he pointed it at the officer as they were running near Eighth and Maple streets.
Surveillance video showed Struss and Arnold fired at each other almost simultaneously. Struss was grazed by a bullet from Arnold’s gun, while a second bullet broke a nearby window, authorities said.
Struss shot Arnold multiple times, including in the eye. Officers performed CPR, but Arnold likely was dead before he hit the ground, Martin said.
Martin cleared Struss of any wrongdoing in the shooting. He was placed on administrative leave per the department’s protocol.
Struss’ administrative leave was the subject of a flurry of legal filings by Levy and attorneys for the city before that lawsuit was settled last month.
"The City did not and does not admit liability with respect to the incident," Allentown communications director Genesis Ortega said Tuesday morning in an emailed statement.
"All parties agreed that resolving the litigation was appropriate at this time," she said, adding the city "will not comment on personnel matters related to (Struss) or any other employee."
