Latest headlines | Frontier passengers to sue Denver over runway incident

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]We begin with breaking news. A group of passengers forced to evacuate from this Frontier Airlines flight during the weekend are suing the city and the county of Denver. That's according to Austinbased law firm DJC Law, which says it is representing those passengers.

[00:00:15]Attorneys with the firm told our news partners that they will be working alongside Ramos Law, which is representing other passengers. I have uh three clients right now who were sitting in a row right next to the engine and they actually saw portions of the individual's body go through the engine which you can imagine must be a very traumatic experience. As soon as that occurred, of course, everybody on the aircraft and my clients included have told me they all thought that they were going to die.

[00:00:43]>> DJC calls the incident preventable, pointing blame at the airport's perimeter security. 12 people were injured when the plane struck a man who had hopped that perimeter fence and stepped onto the runway. We have reached out to Ramos Law and the city of Denver for comment. We'll update you when we hear back.

[00:00:59]>> Thanks for starting your day with us here on 9 News at 6. I'm Drew Carney >> and I'm Corey Rose. We have a busy day ahead, but before you get the kids dressed for school, you're going to want to see the forecast. We could be close to record highs today. Katie Lasella is joining us now. We're talking close to 90°.

[00:01:14]>> It's going to feel like the middle of summer, you guys. Good morning. It is 6:00 a.m. The sun is coming up. Layers for this morning. It's 50s we're starting off with, but shorts and t-shirt weather this afternoon. It's going to be pretty hot, especially in the sunshine. And it's a beautiful start to our morning with low 50s in Fort Collins, downtown Denver, and a majestic Longs Peak this morning. Mountains and the Plains. We'll see near record warmth, 70s and 80s out west, and nearing 90 in Denver. We'll stay toasty through at least Saturday with highs in the 80s. Gusty winds and fire danger will increase for tomorrow in spots, but this morning it's a pretty start to the day. Low uh temperatures have fallen to the 50s. So, that is also above normal.

[00:01:54]We're starting off in the 20s in Leadville. So, a cool morning out west in the mountains. But for today, a quick warmup. 10 a.m. 70°, sunshine, and then building cloud coverage for the afternoon. We do have the chance a slight possibility for a storm forming around the Denver area. Risk of any severe weather is low, but do expect increasing clouds and then temperatures high 80s downtown, 90 in Gley, low 80s out east and any storm activity will be few and far between as you can see by 3:00, but up over Rocky Mountain National Park could see a quick brief downpour near Boulder, but it's not going to last long. Not a lot of notable precipitation and then we will see temperatures again near record warmth tomorrow. Brianna, we do have a cool down on the 7-day forecast. Details still to come.

[00:02:36]>> Katie, thank you so much. Happy Wednesday, everyone. Right now, taking a live look of our first major crash of the morning for anyone heading out the door, taking south on I25, approaching Highway 36 and I270. So, you're kind of seeing crews arrive to the scene right now, and it's just stand still traffic in this area. Looks like troopers are trying to make their way where this crash is happening. Unclear how many vehicles are involved, but we are seeing a lot of brake lights, so stop and go traffic for anyone taking southbound I25. Again, approaching Highway 36. It looks like a trooper just got out of their car. So, of course, they're going to be investigating this crash. Let's get to your drive times, especially if you're in that area or have to take southbound I25. Zooming into southbound I25, you can already start to see those delays just after 104th Avenue. So, the North Glenn area heading into Federal Heights into the North Washington. So, 27 miles per hour. Again, this is our first crash that we're tracking. Once it's cleared up, I will keep you guys updated. But for now, you are still looking pretty good for anyone in the DTC area, 225, or maybe all the way down in Castle Rock.

[00:03:36]>> I'd love to hear that, Brianna. Thank you. To Aurora now, where police are still looking for a teenage driver who hit multiple cars, causing a lot of chaos and forcing two schools to go on secure status.

[00:03:46]>> Shelima Maharaj, our 9 News reporter on the scene for this this morning.

[00:03:50]Shalima, as Corey just mentioned, yesterday a chaotic one for both of those schools.

[00:03:56]>> Yeah, absolutely. We are outside of Cherokee Trail High School right now.

[00:04:00]Right now, the parking lot is completely empty, but this was the scene of all of that commotion yesterday, hearing accounts from students about looking out their window and just witnessing something that they never expected to see. This is hardly how staff, students, parents were anticipating that they would be capping off the school year, but here we are. APD is looking into this. The school district is continuing to look into this and also trying to find ways of making sure that they keep the student body safe. Now, it did happen here at Cherokee Trail High School, but also at Fox Ridge Middle School. But APD says that the student driver, who's also a Cherokee Trail student, struck several cars in the process. They also said that he slashed the tire of an offduty sheriff's deputy who was dropping off his child at school. Now, the schools were put on secure status and students were kept inside. The doors were locked. Cherry Creek School says the teen left and came back to the school a few times before eventually driving away. Now, police say that the boy's guardian reported him as a runaway and that he had stolen her car. He still hasn't been found.

[00:05:03]>> He was speeding through the CT parking lots. I was there at like 8:30 in the morning and he's like just looping around, drifting on the corners, being very loud and honking.

[00:05:13]>> I watched the whole thing from Eastern Hill. So, I was also able to see the car tire get slashed and then the driver coming on to oncoming traffic on a raffle. I thought an accident was going to happen.

[00:05:26]>> Now, the students you just heard from there say that they are incredibly grateful for how quickly security as well as police leapt into action. Now, we did reach out to APD for an update to see if they've been able to locate the driver or there's been any change to their search. And we have also reached out to the school district as well for a clearer idea of what the plan is going to be here today for the students.

[00:05:48]Reporting live in Aurora, Shalima Maharaj, 9 News. It's a scary situation for sure. Shalimma, thank you. Heads up, Denver is testing out its emergency alert system today. All of its 86 outdoor warning sirens will go off for about 3 minutes starting at 11:00 this morning, and a wireless emergency alert will go out to phones within the city and county of Denver. Officials expect some people outside of Denver to receive the alert, too. The goal of the whole thing is to evaluate the emergency alert system.

[00:06:14]>> Police in Gley are looking for the person who stole a bronze statue from Glenmir Park. They say the prize cat statue, we're going to show it to you right here on your screen, was stolen yesterday afternoon. A white box truck was also seen in that area right around the same time of the theft. And investigators believe it may be connected to this case. So, they're asking people to check their security cameras for suspicious activity between 2 and 3 yesterday afternoon. Anyone with information should contact the Gley Police Department. A jury in Douglas County, meanwhile, awarded one of the largest civil judgments in state history, $24 million for a man targeted in a false criminal case by a Parker police detective. Robert Dial sued the former detective after he was arrested in 2022 on felony charges of tampering with evidence and accessory to murder.

[00:06:58]The charges were dismissed 5 months after his arrest, but his attorneys argued that the case led Dial to lose his job and it also ruined his reputation. The case was centered around Dial's son who shot his roommates, killing a man and injuring a woman. His son called Dial and confessed to that shooting. Dial said that he immediately told his son to provide medical assistance, to call 911, and to cooperate with authorities. He also hired an attorney for his son. The woman who was shot told police that Dial actually told his son to hide the gun after the shooting. The gun, though, was never hidden, but the detective on the case still accused Dial of being an accessory to murder. This week, the jury found the detective liable for false arrest and malicious prosecution.

[00:07:40]>> Can't arrest and charge somebody because they say, "I got my son an attorney. I'd like to have an attorney involved."

[00:07:45]That's a constitutional right. And it's not only a right, it's a good thing to do.

[00:07:51]>> By the way, eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The detective retired in 2024, and the town of Parker says it's now considering whether or not to appeal.

[00:08:02]>> Colorado lawmakers are wrapping things up at the state capital today. There's still a few big ticket items to get through before the session ends. And one of them includes a new safety requirement for ride share companies, which failed last year after Uber threatened to leave the state. The bill would require companies like Uber and Lift to run more frequent background checks on drivers and publicly report safety incidents. They're also considering a bill that would require firearm barrels to be sold or transferred in person through a federally licensed dealer. The proposal would also require buyers to be at least 18 years old and legally eligible to purchase a firearm. While dealers would have to keep sales records for 5 years, >> a final vote will also take place today on a bill that would require social media companies to notify law enforcement when they restrict or suspend user accounts over threatening post, even if the legislature passes this, though. Governor Jarro Pus is expected to veto it. The bill was introduced in response to the shooting at Evergreen High School last year. The Anti-Defamation League identified concerning posts months before the shooting happened and they reported them to the FBI, but the information arrived too late for authorities to intervene.

[00:09:05]So, this bill would require social media platforms to comply with law enforcement search warrants within 24 hours and report to police when they take adverse action against the user over post involving specific imminent threats.

[00:09:18]>> We do have some breaking news right now.

[00:09:19]President Trump has just touched down for a key summit in China. He's supposed to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

[00:09:26]The talks are expected to focus on the Iran war, trade, and US arm sales to Taiwan. This is a live look at Air Force One on the tarmac right now. We're expecting him, as you can see, he is walking off the plane off of Air Force One right now to meet with the Chinese president. It sounds like the meat of this summit won't be happening until Thursday when the leaders hold bilateral meetings. But again, he did just touch down. We're expecting uh some more updates on this throughout the day and the week as these two hold a