A man who allegedly trespassed on a Denver International Airport runway and was fatally struck by a Frontier Airlines plane had a criminal past, the New York Post has revealed. Michael Mott, 41, jumped an 8ft fence with barbed wire onto the runway, according to Phillip Washington, the airport’s chief executive. About two minutes lapsed between his breach of the runway and when he was struck by the aircraft, the Guardian reported.
“The cause of death is multiple blunt and sharp force injuries and the manner of death is suicide,” Denver Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Sterling McLaren said, following an on-scene and post-mortem investigation, People reported.
Michael Mott’s criminal past
Mott racked up more than 20 arrests in Colorado dating back to 2002, including for attempted murder, per the New York Post. Some of his chilling mugshots have surfaced after his death. One mugshot shows Mott with a bandaid on his forehead and a gash on his neck.
Most recently, Mott was arrested for felony trespassing just one month before he died by suicide after getting sucked into one of the engines of the Airbus A-321neo.
It remains unclear why the Pueblo-native was walking free after being apprehended on April 10 for first-degree trespassing and damaging property at a Colorado Springs dwelling, and then resisting arrest when police arrived.
Mott was homeless at the time, and was initially booked into the El Paso County Jail after the incident, the Colorado Springs Police Department told the New York Post.
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Mott’s most recent mugshot showed him sporting shoulder-length black hair, and a salt-and-pepper goatee.
Mott was repeatedly arrested from the time he was just 17, for small infractions like shoplifting and underage alcohol consumption. However, within a couple of years, he had formed a reputation as a hardened, violent criminal, his public rap sheet shows.
Mott was arrested by officers from the Cortez Police Department for attempted murder using a gun by February 2005. In the same case, he pleaded down to second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon. He got six years behind bars.
Mott was again charged with felony assault using a weapon while he was in prison.
However, by April 2019, Mott was free again. Soon after, Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office cops picked him up for felony domestic violence, menacing and assault charges.
Other violent crimes Mott was accused of included second-degree burglary in 2016 and felony assault on a peace officer in 2020. In the felony assault case, the Montezuma County District Attorney’s Office dismissed all six of the charges brought against him.
Mott frequently skipped out on scheduled court dates. Between violent crimes, he was nabbed for driving under the influence, one hit-and-run, trespassing, fighting in public, violating protection orders and resisting arrest on various occasions.
Mott was charged with attempting to escape prison custody in 2017 during one of at least three stints behind bars.
Denver Police Department Chief Ron Thomas has said during a news conference that no suicide note has been recovered since Mott’s death. “We currently are looking for any notes, computers, anything like that, trying to identify places where he most recently was,” Thomas said.
Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
