A man in Colorado took an extreme and horrifying turn after being dumped by his girlfriend. Instead of moving on, he decided to use his car as a weapon, mowing down his ex-girlfriend, her sister, and her mother outside a motel in the Denver metro area. The three women were unloading their car after a shopping trip when this shocking incident happened, prosecutors say.
The man behind the wheel, 39-year-old Manuel Handboy, was convicted on January 13 for multiple charges, including attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and first-degree assault. The trial, which lasted eight days, took place in Adams County. According to District Attorney Brian Mason of Colorado’s 17th Judicial District, this was an act of “outrageous violence.”
Handboy had been in a three-year relationship with his girlfriend, but things ended just days before the attack. Prosecutors revealed that after the breakup, Handboy took her phone and even threatened to hurt her. The victim and her mother were staying at a motel near Denver to regroup after the breakup. They had just returned from a shopping trip with her sister when Handboy suddenly appeared.
The three women noticed Handboy sitting nearby in his black Acura sedan. Before they could react, he hit the gas, speeding straight into the group. The impact was devastating. Both the ex-girlfriend and her mother were thrown into the air, and the sister, who was sitting in their car, was also hit.
The injuries were severe. The ex-girlfriend and her sister were hurt, but the mother suffered the most, sustaining a traumatic brain injury along with multiple fractures. Mason described the incident as shocking and shared that surveillance footage captured the moment of the attack. However, the video was so graphic that it wasn’t made public. Mason noted that the jury found the footage compelling, which played a key role in convicting Handboy.
“What this man did is just beyond comprehension,” Mason said. “He drove his car into these innocent women, and they didn’t even have a second to get out of the way. It’s heartbreaking and horrifying.”
Reflecting on the case, Mason shared how difficult it was to process the “depravity” of Handboy’s actions, even with over 18 years of experience as a prosecutor. He emphasized how committed his office was to fighting for the victims and ensuring that justice was served.
The incident and its aftermath left everyone involved grappling with the senseless nature of the violence. “I’ll never fully understand why someone would do something like this,” Mason said. “But this jury saw the truth, and they delivered a fair and just verdict.”
The community remains shaken, but justice has been served for the victims of this unimaginable act of violence.
