Virgie Manaway breathes through a tube that is keeping her alive in an intensive-care unit after an argument with her son’s father that ended up with her under the wheels of his pickup truck.
The mother of three is expected to survive but will not be the same, and neither will her 4-year-old son who witnessed the May 12 incident.
“My sister did not deserve this,” said Gladys Manaway. “I want her to be well, to be able to speak and breathe again. She is on a ventilator. She might end up losing part of her leg. She is going to be in a wheelchair for a long time.”
Virgie Manaway, 34, and her son Ethan had a restraining order against Cedric McElroy following several incidents of domestic violence, but the separation was tumultuous, and Manaway was still in contact with him, taking Ethan over to his home in Aurora, police said.
At the time of the incident, McElroy, 39, was out on $50,000 bond related to another domestic-violence episode, said Aurora police Lt. Chuck DeShazer.
McElroy has not been arrested because police are still investigating whether the latest incident was intentional.
Apparently, Manaway and McElroy were arguing about the boy, and he took the child out of her car as she was leaving and put him in his pickup, DeShazer said. Then Manaway went to get the boy and stood on the running boards of the truck just before she was critically injured, he said.
When police arrived at the scene, McElroy’s mouth was covered in blood from trying to resuscitate Manaway, and he was trying to put her in the truck to take her to a hospital.
“We have a meeting with a filing deputy (district attorney) this week to lay out the case as they have it so far and see what kind of charges they are willing to take,” DeShazer said. “It’s not going to be parental kidnapping or anything like that because she was taking the child to Cedric’s place and dropping him off.”
McElroy could not be located for comment.
Detectives don’t know all the details of the argument because there were no witnesses who saw the entire thing, and Manaway can’t speak in her current condition.
The only witness may be Ethan, who told his family, “Daddy hurt Mommy,” Gladys Manaway said.
Virgie Manaway has two other children: 12-year-old Jazzmin, who is “numb,” and 16-year-old Raheem, who lives in Texas with his father, Gladys Manaway said.
For now, Ethan and Jazzmin will be living with their grandmother, who has taken a family leave from her job in Maryland to care for them in Colorado.
The family has established a trust fund in Virgie Manaway’s name at Wells Fargo Bank to help with expenses.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
