Two people aboard a small plane were injured Sunday morning when their aircraft made an emergency landing near Interstate 25 and the town of Larkspur.
The pilot apparently attempted to land on the interstate, per preliminary information gathered at the scene. But the plane struck a traffic sign in the center median, “causing the plane to veer off to the east and crash,” the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office explained in a social media post.
Copter4 found the damaged sign and a likely piece of plane debris several hundred yards north of where the plane stopped.
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A photo from the scene shows the underside of the plane, indicating it came to rest on its roof. The landing gear are protruding from thick brush.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office/X
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According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane is a twin-engine Tecnam P2006T.
A spokesperson with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Dep. Cocha Heyden, said the plane came down just east of the highway at mile marker 173. Radio traffic from the scene, plus live images from Colorado Department of Transportation’s highway cameras, suggests the right two lanes of I-25 are closed where Spruce Mountain Road’s on-ramp joins northbound highway traffic. Vehicles are slowly moving past the plane crash scene using only one lane, the express lane. Other cameras to the south of the scene show extensive northbound backup on the highway.
The plane evidently landed in the East Plum Creek drainage immediately east of I-25. It’s not known yet if the plane itself landed in water, but fire department personnel waded through waist-deep water to get to the two injured people.
The crash was reported just before 8 a.m., according to DCSO’s Heyden.
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Two patients from the plane were transported by ambulance from the location. There has been no report from the scene about the extent of their injuries.
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The Colorado State Patrol’s hazardous materials (HAZMAT) unit is handling cleanup of fuel that has leaked from the plane. Unconfirmed radio traffic from the scene indicates 30-40 gallons of unleaded fuel have leaked from the plane; CSP’s HAZMAT crew is attempting to contain the fuel with booms on the water’s surface.
The Perry Park Airport, a small private landing strip, is located immediately west of I-25 at the crash location. It is not known at this time if the crashed plane departed or was attempting to land there.
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Local authorities say federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will later announce their conclusions about the cause of the accident.
Logan Smith
Logan Smith is an assignment desk editor at CBS Colorado in Denver with more than 30 years of journalism experience in digital, television and print media.
Colorado’s best ski deal? Maybe one that costs nothing at all. At Steamboat Springs’ Howelsen Hill, “Sunday Funday is taken to an entirely new level,” reads the city webpage for Ski Free Sundays. Yes, on Sundays throughout the season, visitors need only to walk into the ticket office to grab a pass at no charge. […]
While Colorado ranks near the middle of U.S. states for carbon emissions per capita, it still produces enough CO2 per person to rival countries on the World Bank’s list of top emitters internationally.
In 2023, Colorado produced 13.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per capita. If it had been ranked by the World Bank during the same year, Colorado would have placed 14th among the more than 200 countries on the list, just behind Canada, at 14.1, and just ahead of the U.S. as a whole, at 13.7.
Among U.S. states, Colorado ranked 26th in carbon emissions per capita. Wyoming had the highest per capita emissions in the country, at 92.9 metric tons, while Maryland had the lowest, at 7.8.
Most of Colorado’s emissions come from energy production and consumption, primarily natural gas and oil production and electric power production and consumption.
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Sources
References:
Colorado State Energy Profile, U.S. Energy Information Administration, accessed in December 2025. Source link
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2023 Colorado Statewide Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, pg. 128, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, November 2024. Source link
Senate Bill 24-230 Oil and Gas Production Fees, Colorado General Assembly, accessed in December, 2025. Source link
Senate Bill 23-016 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Measures, Colorado General Assembly, accessed in December 2025. Source link
Carbon dioxide emissions, World Bank Group, 2024, accessed in December 2025. Source link
Energy-related CO2 emission data tables, U.S. Energy Information Administration, accessed in December 2025. Source link
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Type of Story: Fact-Check
Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.
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Cassis Tingley is a Denver-based freelance journalist. She’s spent the last three years covering topics ranging from political organizing and death doulas in the Denver community to academic freedom and administrative accountability at the…
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Just a few short days after landing tight end Houston Thomas from the NCAA transfer portal, Mike Elko and the Texas A&M Aggies have now added reinforcements on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage.
Former Colorado Buffaloes safety Tawfiq Byard has officially announced his move from the Big 12 to the SEC, just a handful of days after entering the portal himself.
After A&M safety Bryce Anderson’s recent announcement of his own portal entry, Byard could be just the replacement that Elko and new defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill need in the “Wrecking Crew’s” defensive backfield.
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A&M Lands Safety Tawfiq Byard From Colorado
Byard will now play football for his third school in his college career, having also spent some of his playing days with the South Florida Bulls before making the move to Boulder to play for NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes.
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Colorado Buffaloes defensive back Tawfiq Byard (7) reacts in the first quarter against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
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Byard’s sophomore campaign in 2025 was much more telling than that of his previous efforts with the Bulls, appearing in all 12 games for the Buffs while starting in eight of those games.
The defensive back would lead the Colorado defense with 85 tackles and was tied for 26th in the nation in the solo tackles category, with 57, and his eight tackles for loss were the third-most by a safety in the history of the program.
His performance, which also included two forced fumbles, an interception, and 0.5 sacks, earned him an honorable mention on the All-Big 12 team.
For a Texas A&M team that has struggled with injuries in recent years, including one to Anderson, a head injury during the win over Notre Dame, Byard’s durability is exactly what Texas A&M needs on defense, and his efficiency will help tie together what should be a younger A&M secondary in the 2026 season.
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During his pair of years in South Florida, Byard appeared in 16 games while starting 10, all of which came in his redshirted freshman season, where he finished with 54 tackles (34 solo), eight tackles for loss, two sacks, one interception, and a fumble recovery before transferring to Colorado.
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The Buffaloes had a rough ride of a season in their first without quarterback Shedeur Sanders and former Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, with only a 3-9 record (1-8 conference) to show for in 2025, their lone conference win coming against a ranked Iowa State Cyclones team.
With the defensive backfield back in decent order, the Aggies now look ahead to a grinding offseason before starting their third season under head coach Mike Elko with a hosting of the Missouri State Bears at Kyle Field on September 5.
