http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/255774
Posted Jun 6, 2008 by Susan Duclos

Police Chief: 'We No Longer Have A Moral Compass' After Hit-and-Run Victim Is Ignored


A Honda hit 78-year-old Torres while he was trying to cross the street last Friday, leaving him in the middle of the road, crumpled and bleeding.

Four people did call 911, but after watching the video, it is clear that not only did the Honda that hit Torres just keep going, but nine or ten other cars passed the elderly man by and witnesses on the sidewalk, stood and watched and did nothing to help Torres.

As Torres lay in the street, nine cars passed him without stopping. More than 40 seconds went by before anyone even stepped off the sidewalk to get a closer look. But no one went over to Torres' body to try to help or even divert traffic.

Finally, after about a minute and a half, a police car responding to a different call happened upon the scene and an ambulance was called.


The police released the video (seen here) on Wednesday to ask for people to call if they had any information about the Honda that hit Torress and kept going and a Hartford Police Chief, Daryl Roberts, expressed his outrage at the news conference, saying, "we no longer have a moral compass."

He also says that it is an "indication of what we have become" when a person can be "laying in the street and people just drive around him."

People just do not want to get involved and Torres' son, Angel Arce Torres Jr, cannot even bring himself to watch the video and says, "I can't see it. Even if you see a dog or an animal out in the street, you help them. And that hurts."

Torres is reportedly in critical condition at Hartford Hospital.