A Stafford Board of Supervisors candidate and her family have a $77.4 million lawsuit against County Sheriff David Decatur and two sheriff’s deputies, but Kelly Robertson contends she could still serve as a supervisor, simply recusing herself, if necessary.
Robertson, an independent, is challenging Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English, a Republican, as is Marcus Oats, an independent who is endorsed by the Stafford Democratic Committee.
Robertson and her family filed the wrongful death suit last year in Stafford Circuit Court. In it, they allege that sheriff’s deputy Dominic Ferrell killed their father, 71-year-old Michael Shamrock Robertson Sr., by a rifle shot to the back on Dec. 16, 2023, according to the lawsuit.
Michael Robertson, a Navy veteran and former Fairfax County deputy, was at his home on U.S. 1, the lawsuit says, when Stafford deputies arrived to do a welfare check on him called in by an Uber driver who had just transported him from a holiday party at the Eagles Club.
Deputy Shabbir Waheed went to Robertson’s door “without immediately identifying himself as law enforcement,” the suit says, and said he saw Robertson with a gun, “which is contrary to body camera footage.”
“In the confusion, Mr. Robertson insisted that ‘all is good,’ but deputy Waheed ignored him,” the suit says.
Waheed fired three shots, which hit parts of Robertson’s home, and Robertson said, “Why are you shooting at me? Why are you shooting at me?”
Later, Ferrell could be heard over a police radio, saying, “When he opens the door, I’m taking the shot.”
Then he fired the fatal shot, the lawsuit says, and Robertson died.
The deputies provided no care to him for at least an hour and a half after the shooting, the suit says.
“Mr. Robertson was shot and killed despite no body camera video from any of the five sheriff’s deputies on the scene showing that Mr. Robertson ever pointed a weapon at them or anyone else,” it says.
A rifle was kept in the house by the front door, according to the lawsuit, “and, at most deputy Waheed may have seen it in that position.”
An investigation found that no criminal charges were merited in the case, but the Robertson family announced the civil lawsuit at a press conference in Richmond in September 2024.
Their attorney, Mark Krudys, said the suit is continuing.
“In the coming weeks, we will be taking the depositions of the defendants and other witnesses present at the scene of the shooting,” Krudys wrote in an email Thursday.
When asked if she was running for supervisor because of her father’s death, Kelly Robertson wrote in an email that she is “running because, based on all of my life experiences, both personally and professionally, I can say without a doubt that I am uniquely suited to represent the interests of all Hartwood residents in a caring, thoughtful and professional manner.”
But, she wrote, her father’s death “deeply affected me, my family and our community.”
“For nearly two years, I have wanted change to ensure that every Stafford County resident both feels and is safe,” she wrote.
After her father was killed, Robertson was left to manage his estate, which, she wrote, meant spending much of 2024 dealing with nearly every county office.
“I met some wonderful public servants,” she wrote, “but I also encountered layers of red tape, disorganization and indifference that made an already painful process even harder.”
That was followed by a rise in real-estate tax bills, Robertson wrote, and disillusionment with English, the incumbent supervisor.
As she noted, the Stafford Sheriff’s Office is a constitutional agency that’s technically separate from the Board of Supervisors. But the two parts of local government do sometimes interact, especially regarding budgetary matters.
“If any issue ever presents a conflict, I would, like any responsible board member, recuse myself from the discussion and abstain from the vote,” Robertson wrote.
She also wrote that a separate state agency, the Division of Risk Management, handles lawsuits like the one her family has filed.
And, other than recusing herself from matters involving the lawsuit, she wrote that she has no conflicts of interest with the Sheriff’s Office.
“We all deserve professional, well-trained and well-resourced law enforcement that protects its citizens and serves with integrity,” Robertson wrote.
Decatur declined to comment on the lawsuit. English, who works for the Stafford Sheriff’s Office, also declined to comment.
