Around the Nation
Around the Nation
An image from a surveillance video shows cars driving around a 78-year-old man who lies in a street in Hartford, Conn., after being struck by another car.
(Hartford Police Department Via Associated Press)
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Hit-and-Run Video Inspires Outrage
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 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 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 that "we no longer have a moral compass."
"We have no regard for each other," said Chief Daryl K. Roberts, who released the video Wednesday in hopes of making an arrest in the accident that left Angel Arce Torres in critical condition.
But Roberts and other city officials backtracked on Thursday. After initially saying he was unsure whether anyone called 911, he and other city officials appeared at a news conference in which they said that four people dialed 911 within a minute of the accident, and that Torres received medical attention shortly after that.
Roberts said his initial angry reaction was based on what he saw in the video. "The video was very graphic and sent a very bad message," the police chief said.
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 forklift operator, walks in the two-way street just blocks from the state Capitol after buying milk at a grocery store. A beige 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 police responding to an unrelated call arrive on the scene after about 90 seconds.
Tornadoes Lash the Great Plains
WICHITA, Kan.-- Tornadoes dropped onto the Great Plains after warnings by forecasters, causing damage and spooking a pair of circus elephants in Kansas that escaped their enclosure around the town of WaKeeney before being captured. At least four tornadoes touched down in western and central Kansas, where residents braced for what National Weather Service forecasters called a potentially historic outbreak. Tornadoes were also reported in Nebraska and Missouri, and a funnel cloud was seen in Colorado.
