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This appeared on my computer this morning. I'm too upset to comment!!!

U.S. News

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - 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."

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They have placed the video of it on the news, hoping someone will step forward. It is so hard to believe that people just kept passing by and did nothing. I was just thinking about the man that was beat up, and everyone passed by on the other side of the road, only one stopped to help.

Lord of the Powers be with us, for in times of distress we have no other help but You.
Lord of the Powers, have mercy on this man and his family. Bring conviction upon the one/s who perpetrated this act, that they will turn themselves in.

Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us, for we perish.

actually a corrected version of the story states that several passersby called 911 within 3-4 minutes of the accident.

My home state. Doesn't surprise me, unfortunately. Most people here have a "hooray for me, and to heck with you", attitude. Every time I travel I remark how nice people are outside of Ct.

I live close to Hartford and work in the city, not all that far from where this happened. It's been the real talk of the town lately. The neighborhood where it happened is not great, but I still am shocked that with all the people on the sidewalk no one came right out to him. It's horrific. From recent news reports, he's paralyzed from the neck down.