Police ID Man Hit By Frontier Jet, Reveal Horrifying Final Moments

Colorado officials identified the man killed while walking on the runway of the Denver International Airport last week and said they believe he died by suicide.

Michael Mott, 41, died from multiple blunt and sharp force injuries he sustained when he was struck by a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321 that was speeding down the runway just before takeoff, according to the Denver City and County Medical Examiner’s Office. While authorities said they have not found a suicide note, they believe that Mott wanted to end his life.

“We currently are looking for any notes, computers, anything like that, trying to identify places where he most recently was,” said Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas.

Mott had run-ins with Denver police in the past, according to a department spokesman, who did not say what led to those encounters.

Mott hopped an eight-foot barbed wire fence before casually strolling onto the runway just after 11:00 p.m. local time last Friday. Video footage showed the 41-year-old man slowly walking into the middle of the runway and directly into the path of the plane before the collision.

Mott was ingested into one of the engines of the Airbus A321, sparking a fire and causing passengers to evacuate through the plane’s emergency slides. Twelve passengers were injured in the emergency evacuation, according to officials.

The Denver International Airport said it has alarms set up to alert staff if someone gets past the airport’s barriers, but last Friday, the operator on duty “reviewed the alarm and identified a herd of deer just outside of the perimeter fence.”

“The camera view was alternating between the wildlife and the individual. There are some ditches in the area, so the person was out of view for a bit as well,” Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington said.

Washington said the airport would conduct a review to look into the incident and better prepare for the future.

“Since this incident, we have been asked, ‘Why don’t you electrify the fence, or ‘Why isn’t the fence tall?’ or ‘Why don’t you use razor wire instead of barbed wire?’” the CEO added. “Safety and security, again, is always our top priority. 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, that is why we have many layers of security.”

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free hotline for individuals in crisis or distress, or for those looking to help someone else. It is available 24/7 by dialing 988.