by Larry Chowning –
A lawsuit was filed on October 7 in Middlesex County Circuit Court—two years to the day when pilot Keith M. Roxo and his family crash landed from Hummel Field in Topping into the home of James M. Johnston of 402 Eubank Landing Rd.
Johnston has filed suit against Roxo and the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors as a group and individually. The suit names as defendants Roxo, supervisor Mark E. Holt III, supervisor Wayne H. Jessie Sr., supervisor Peter W. Mansfield, former supervisor Robert L. LeBoeuf and the late John D. Miller, who was chair of the board at the time.
The lawsuit demands $300,000 in damages and $350,000 in punitive damages from Roxo, and $500,000 in damages and $350,000 from “Middlesex County, the County Board of Supervisors of Middlesex . . ., and each of the members thereof individually” on the board.
On October 6, 2017 Roxo, along with his wife and their infant child, were flying from Florida in a Mooney M2DC four-seat plane, and had stopped for the night at the Pilot House Inn in Topping. The next morning on October 7 they got fuel at the county-owned Hummel Field to continue on their flight to Connecticut.
Virginia State Police reported at the time that Roxo was not familiar with the runway and did not use the entire runway on take-off. He came out of the taxiway where the fuel station is located and turned north to begin his take-off, which cut the runway distance from 2,200 feet to 1,200 feet. The plane did not attain enough speed to climb high enough and it stalled, crashing into Johnston’s house, the state police stated.
No one was home at the time of the crash and Roxo, his wife and child only suffered minor non-life threatening injuries.
