Posted on 06/05/2008 1:05:45 PM PDT by TexasNative2000
HARTFORD, Conn. - A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.
The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city's biggest newspaper blaring "SO INHUMANE" on the front page and the police chief lamenting: "We no longer have a moral compass."
"We have no regard for each other," said Chief Daryl Roberts, who released the video this week in hopes of making an arrest in the daylight accident last Friday that left Angel Arce Torres in critical condition.
The hit-and-run took place about 5:45 p.m. in a working-class neighborhood close to downtown in this city of 125,000.
In the video, Torres walks in the two-way street just blocks from the state Capitol after buying milk at a grocery. A tan Toyota and a dark Honda that is apparently chasing it cross the center line, and Torres is struck by the Honda. Both cars then dart down a side street.
Several cars pass Torres as a few people stare from the sidewalk. Some approach Torres, but most stay put until a police cruiser responding to an unrelated call arrives on the scene after about a minute and a half.
The police chief told The Hartford Courant that he was unsure whether anyone called 911.
"Like a dog they left him there," said a disgusted Jose Cordero, 37, who was with friends Thursday not far from where Torres was struck. Robert Luna, who works at a store nearby, said: "Nobody did nothing."
One witness, Bryant Hayre, told the Courant he didn't feel comfortable helping Torres, who he said was bleeding and conscious.
The accident — and bystanders' callousness — dominated morning radio talk shows.
"It was one of the most despicable things I've seen by one human being to another," the Rev. Henry Brown, a community activist, said in an interview. "I don't understand the mind-set anymore. It's kind of mind-boggling. We're supposed to help each other. You see somebody fall, you want to offer a helping hand."
The victim's son, Angel Arce, begged the public for help in finding the driver. "My father is fighting for his life," he said.
The hit-and-run is the second violent crime to shock Hartford this week. On Monday, former Deputy Mayor Nicholas Carbone, 71, was beaten and robbed while walking to breakfast. He remains hospitalized and faces brain surgery.
"There was a time they would have helped that man across the street. Now they mug and assault him," police chief said. "Anything goes."
Councilman Matthew Ritter said police can do only so much.
"The citizens are the city," he said. "Everybody has a part to play. Call 911 and reach out."
He didn't feel comfortable??? Bryant Hayre should be too ashamed to show his face in public, and he should be shunned. However, the dozens of people who also decided not to come to the victim's aid certainly don't have the courage or the morality needed to shun him.
Ah, the Deep Blue Cities. Liberal cesspools.
The sarcastic side of me says “Next time he’ll use the crosswalk”, but in honesty that is some pretty horrible footage. Not so much the accident as the inaction of that many people.
And what the hell were those two cars doing that they flew through there in the wrong lane with one barely missing and the other hitting that poor man. I hope they track down that vehicle and nail that driver to a wall.
That mentality is exactly why he just lays there and its pretty pathetic.
No, they would've stopped if it was a dog.
The "Fast and Furious" generation strikes again.
Everyone has a cellphone these days. If a person doesn’t know proper first aid procedures, they can call 911 for an ambulance and do what they can to pull the person to safety out of oncoming traffic. If they know first aid, they should use it and worry about lawsuits later. This is no excuse for people not to care anything about anybody else like is rampant these days.
I think that ranks right up there (top 10, at least) with the most disgusting and stomach-turning things I have ever seen in this country.
Well at least they did not steal his shoes his wallet or groceries as has been done to other victims that have fared shootings or other hit and runs.
Not trying to make light of this victims plight, but we are fast becoming a nation of callous uncaring populance.
As of 2005, almost 66% of registered voters are democrats in Hartford. Peace and love.
That was my thought too. And I’m a relatively aggressive driver. But I also pay very close attention when I drive and dont do things like what these two cars were doing.
No doubt. The PETA vigil would be round-the-clock.....
CT’s become a liberal bastion.. what do they expect? The more people claim to “care” the less they actually do anything.
Another dem/lib “utopia”...
Sadly, you're absolutely correct.
I would not have tried to move the injured man but I would have called an ambulance and sat beside him and reassured him that help was on the way until it came. I have done that BTW, several times in my life for accident victims. There is something wrong with these people.
Or, Penny Serra
“A 78-year-old man is tossed ... by a hit-and-run driver... as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.”
Easy to believe in a blue state.
They won’t help an injured ~person~ and *I* almost got into a fist-fight with some guy over which of us was gonna get to save a ~turtle~ off the road.
Sheesh.
The world has gone to hell.
punked or similar shows also ‘help’ this situation...
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