Hit, Run, Yawn - Burn In Hell Hopefully

What is wrong with people?

What is this world coming to?

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HARTFORD, Conn. -- In a frightening event caught on video, an elderly
Connecticut man was struck by a car and was left lying in the street.
What's worse is that vehicles continued to drive past the man, with
no one stopping to help.

Surveillance video shows 78-year-old Angel Torres being struck by a
car in Hartford. The video shows that no one walking by on the
sidewalk, or driving past on the street, tried to help the victim.
However, Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts appeared at a news
conference on Thursday in which they said four people dialed 911
within a minute of the accident.

Police arrived to the scene shortly after the hit-and-run while
responding to an unrelated call. The man was taken to Hartford
Hospital for treatment.

The video has been enhanced by the Connecticut State Police Forensic
Science Laboratory. An older model tan Toyota may have been chased by
a blue or black older model Honda. Police say the cars ran a red
light and crossed a center line before hitting the man.

Police are asking for the public's help in solving the crime.
Torres remains in critical condition and is paralyzed from the neck
down.

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."

Pedestrians gawk but appear to 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 hit-and-run took place in daylight last Friday at about 5:45 p.m.
in a working-class neighborhood close to downtown in this city of
125,000.

In the video, Torres, a retired fork-lift operator, 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
veer across the center line, and Torres is struck by the Honda. Both
cars then dart down a side street.

Nine 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.

"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' apparent 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."


Video on YouTube