Officials have identified the man who walked in front of an L.A.-bound Frontier plane during takeoff and was fatally struck by its engine, which burst into flames upon impact, forcing an emergency evacuation and injuring a dozen passengers.
Michael Mott, 41, died from multiple blunt force injuries in the collision on the Denver Airport runway Friday night, according to Denver Chief Medical Examiner Sterling McLaren. His manner of death was ruled a suicide, but officials have not recovered a note, she said.
Mott had been arrested 20 times in the state of Colorado on suspicion of violent felonies including attempted murder, domestic violence and assault, according to court records obtained by the California Post. Most recently, he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, damaging property and resisting arrest in Colorado Springs, the Post reported.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas did not discuss Mott’s extensive criminal history at a news conference Tuesday morning but noted that investigators were reaching out to his family and those who knew him seeking additional information about his motivations. Thomas asked anyone who was in contact with Mott prior to the incident to contact the department.
Surveillance camera footage captured Mott scaling an 8-foot fence topped with barbed wire at the perimeter of the airport in just 15 seconds, then walking across the runway.
Two minutes later, the right engine of a plane traveling 150 mph slammed into Mott, bursting into flame upon impact.
“Given the short time period, we were not able to intervene and prevent this person from reaching the runway,” airport Chief Executive Officer Phillip Washington said at the news conference Tuesday.
Mott set off a security alarm when he jumped the fence, but the operator on duty mistook the cause of the alert as a herd of deer just outside the fence.
“The camera view was alternating between the wildlife and the individual,” explained Washington. “There are some ditches in the area, so the person was out of view for a bit as well.”
Washington said the airport’s 36-mile-long fence meets FAA requirements and noted that there are multiple layers of security to prevent a breach from taking place. This includes security and police patrols, CCTV cameras and a radar system that records video and thermal imaging.
Nonetheless, ensuring complete security of the 53 square mile airport, the second largest by landmass in the the world, is a challenging task, he acknowledged.
Although some people have questioned why the fence is not electrocuted, Washington said that the department did not want it to be deadly. And even if the airport were to raise the fence’s height, that may not prevent a “motivated individual” from scaling it, he added.
Washington and Thomas noted the airport and Police Department would be working together to continue investigating the incident and evaluating the perimeter security program.
Separately, the National Transportation Safety Board is gathering information on the evacuation from the Frontier plane to determine whether injuries were serious enough to warrant a safety investigation. Twelve people were injured in the fire, five of whom were transported to hospitals for treatment, according to an airport spokesperson.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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