YORK, Pa — Former York City Mayor Charlie Robertson has passed away at the age of 83. According to family, he had been battling cancer.
Robertson was first elected in 1993. He was still serving as mayor in May of 2001 when he was charged with murder for his alleged role in the death of Lillie Belle Allen, who was killed during the Race Riots in the summer of 1969 in York. Robertson was a York City Police officer at the time of Lillie Belle Allen’s death during those riots. Allen, 27, and a young police officer, Henry Schaad, 22, were killed during the racial strife that embroiled the city in the summer of 1969. Robertson was accused of inciting the crowd to violence in the wake of Schaad’s death. After a highly publicized trial, he was acquitted of all charges in 2002.
As mayor, Robertson tried to bring professional baseball to York, something that eventually happened with the arrival of the York Revolution in 2006.
