A pilot and a student were killed when a single-engine plane crashed at Erie Airpark on Saturday afternoon, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus.
The two-seat 2006 Evektor-Aerotechnik AS Sportstar, manufactured in 2006, was built from a kit.
Emmett Murphy, 58, of Riverton, Wyo., who was the student, and instructor Matthew Crine, 41, of Wheat Ridge, died when their single-engine plane crashed shortly before 2 p.m., said Weld County sheriff’s spokeswoman Margie Martinez.
The plane is registered to Skyraider Aviation Inc., 395 Airport Drive in Erie. The company’s website advertises flight training, aircraft rental and sales, and other services.
Someone who answered the phone at the company said he couldn’t comment on the accident.
A witness who saw the plane take off told 9News that the plane didn’t appear to have enough height to clear power lines and banked hard to avoid them. The plane then spiraled and hit the ground.
Details of the crash are sketchy.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Colorado 7 was closed from County Line Road to Lowell Boulevard after the crash. The road was reopened shortly before 3 p.m.
PUEBLO
Gunshot outside bar wounds 26-year-old
A 26-year-old man was in serious condition after he was shot outside a Pueblo bar early Saturday morning, officials said.
Christopher Charles Cooper, 26, was struck by a bullet outside the Caveman Main Event bar, 211 W. Northern Ave., at 12:26 a.m., said Sgt. Elias Manzanares, spokesman for the Pueblo Police Department.
Authorities were searching for Daniel Lee Barela, 21, for investigation of attempted homicide after Cooper identified him as the one who fired the shot, Manzanares said.
Cooper was transported to a Denver hospital because of the seriousness of his injuries, Manzanares said.
LARKSPUR
Cheerleader’s dad faces sex-assault case
A 46-year-old cheerleading booster club volunteer has been arrested for investigation of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, officials say.
Carl Ruch was arrested Wednesday on a charge of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust, said Cocha Heyden, spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
He is being held in the Doug las County Jail on $50,000 bail, Heyden said.
Ruch allegedly sexually assaulted the girl at least once between July 2 and Aug. 12, she said.
Ruch is an officer at a Castle View High School booster club that supports the cheerleading squad, said Whei Wong, spokeswoman for Doug las County Public Schools. His daughter is on the team but she was not the victim, Wong said.
The girl was allegedly assaulted at Ruch’s Larkspur home during a gathering of other students, Wong said. It was not an official school gathering, Wong said.
MESA COUNTY
Deputies pluck marijuana grower
Mesa County sheriff’s deputies arrested a 56-year-old man claiming to be a licensed medical marijuana provider. Investigators say he had $50,000 worth of marijuana growing in his house.
Gordon G. LaBarge was arrested at 10 p.m. Thursday for investigation of possession of three guns by a felon, two counts of drug possession with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.
CHEYENNE
Cemetery worker wins bovine case
Somehow, someone buried a steer in the city cemetery, and the cemetery’s assistant director lost his job.
But now Scott Heatherington has his job back. He convinced the city’s Personnel Commission that even though the steer was his, he had nothing to do with the animal’s interment.
“I’m very happy with the decision,” Heatherington said.
Heatherington said one of his employees, James Anderson, had offered to take the dead steer off his hands and hauled the carcass off his property in a pickup truck.
In April, Anderson told city parks director Brad Carnahan that he’d buried the steer carcass at the cemetery under Heatherington’s orders, according to city documents.
The animal was exhumed, and Heatherington was fired in May.
He was reinstated Sept. 6 after cemetery employees told the Personnel Commission that Anderson had “a penchant for tall tales.”
