So Liberty City is really Hartford, CT?
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."
More likely that they view these streets as their own personal race track. Thank you "The Fast & The Furious".
That’s it, thanks, Genovese syndrome. It has something to do with others being around and thinking they’ll probably help. The same person might actually help if he’s the only one there.
The flip side of the syndrome where nobody in a crowd helps is that if one does help then the rest flock to follow. It's a bunch of interactions of crowd dynamics.
So Liberty City is really Hartford, CT?
I only recognize one Savior and it ain’t some dork named pimping empty “hope”.
*Mine* can come back tomorrow and I’m cool with it.
Much of the world has become heartless, souless and pitiless.
I’m sure *Somebody* is taking notes.
Cain [infamously] asked “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Well, yeah, actually.
So much for “good Samaritans”.
If given a choice between being sued for helping and having to live with my conscience for the rest of my life for *not* helping, I think I’d take my chances with a jury.
As an example, animals eyes still glow after they’ve been killed by a car.
I -can’t- pass one with glowing eyes without stopping to make sure it’s not still alive.
I ~have~ tried to do so, simply to spare myself the mental anguish of finding an irreparably broken critter that I cannot help [except with a merciful bullet] and wound up turning around and going back, anyway.
How much *more* should we try to help an injured person?
I just don’t get it.
Isn’t Hartford a “sanctuary city”? Where illegals are assured they will not be prosecuted for being illegal if they simply report a crime?
Seems to be working out well.
Hartford is a blue city in a blue state. Liberals have no compassion for people, that is what they hire public servants to do.
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booooooooommmmmp !!!
Hi Meek. This is awful. There was another thread about it that I posted on when it first was shown on TV. I was appalled at the people walking on by and just glancing over at him. They have lost their humanity.
I also wrote about a similar experience of mine when I was in Cozumel. The island was full of tourists from the cruise ships and I was rushing around trying to buy souvenirs for the kids and family.
Crossing a busy street I tripped on the curb and fell. My purse, many gift bags, Ray Bans, etc, all scattered into the street.
I had injured my knee quite badly and not one, of the dozens of tourists passing by, stopped to help me!! Finally a Black man, native of Cozumel, walked over and asked me if I was alright, and then he went and picked up all of my things and brought them to me.
I had to limp down the street and way out on the pier to wait for a shuttle back to the cruise ship. It made quite an impression on me.
What’s wrong with people?? I would be the first to stop and help!
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