Man hit by Frontier Airlines plane taking off at Denver airport intended to kill himself, officials say
The man who was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines jet after he jumped a perimeter fence at Denver International Airport intended to kill himself, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The man was identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott, according to Sterling McLaren, Denver’s chief medical examiner. The manner of death was ruled a suicide. Denver police are continuing to investigate his motivations.
Frontier Flight 4345, an Airbus A321, was departing Denver en route to Los Angeles on Friday and carried 224 passengers and seven crew members, the airline said in a statement at the time.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” a pilot said, according to audio from ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
Twelve people were injured after smoke filled the cabin and passengers had to evacuate on emergency slides. Five were taken to the hospital for injuries, and four have already been released.
There are about 36 miles of perimeter fence surrounding the airport. An inspection after the incident found the fence was intact, but the airport said it is performing an “incident analysis and review its perimeter security program.”
No cars or bikes were found near the area where Mott jumped the fence, Denver Chief of Police Ron Thomas said. The fence is 8 feet tall and topped with barbed wire and alarmed.
At 53 square miles, the airport is larger than the city of San Francisco, according to its website.
Phil Washington, Denver International Airport CEO, said the airport is the second largest airport by land mass, second only to an airport in Saudi Arabia, and security officers and Denver police patrol the airfield regularly. He said the airport has seen fence jumpers before.
He said it took approximately 15 seconds for Mott to jump the fence. Within two minutes he was struck and killed. Ground detection sensors set off an alarm when he approached the fence, but security spotted a herd of deer on cameras and did not initially see him, airport officials said.
“Safety and security, again, is always our top priority,” Washington said. “We don’t want our fence to be deadly, and even if the fence was taller, we believe a motivated individual could find a way to penetrate it. That is why we have many layers of security.”
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline can be reached by dialing 988. It provides free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people in suicidal crisis or distress, or for those who are helping a person in crisis.
