by Larry Chowning –
The portion of a lawsuit filed against Middlesex County and individual board of supervisors members on Oct. 7, 2019 concerning a plane crash into a home near Hummel Field in Topping in 2017 was dismissed by Judge Jeffrey W. Shaw in Gloucester Circuit Court, 9th Judicial Circuit of Virginia.
At a “Special Plea in Bar and Demurrer” hearing on June 19 in Gloucester, Judge Shaw agreed with arguments by Middlesex County attorneys from Sands Anderson law firm in Richmond that the county and individual supervisors were not at fault and dismissed the charges, said County Attorney Heather Lewis at the supervisors meeting on July 7.
James M. Johnston of 402 Eubank Landing Road filed the suit after pilot Keith M. Roxo with his family in the plane crashed into Johnston’s home, destroying the house.
The suit was against Roxo and each board of supervisors member.
On Oct. 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 Oct. 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’s 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…
