Whose Life?

Take an intro to psychology or sociology course and you'll learn the name Kitty Gennivisie (sp?). Kitty was a woman who was attacked in New York decades ago, on the street in broad daylight. Her attacker beat the living snot out of her; all the while she was screaming and calling for help. The attacker left her for dead-but she didn't die. Instead, she continued to call for help, lying on the street corner in broad daylight in front of several apartment buildings. The attacker came back, saw she wasn't dead and completed the job.

Later, when interviewed, the police had over 30 eyewitnesses who watched the beating or heard Kitty's cries for help. And not a single one did anything. No 911 calls, no assistance given to the dying woman-nothing.

Kitty's attack took over 30 minutes-and no one even lifted a finger to help. This Hartford case is almost as troubling; especially since passersby saw him and disregarded the injured man.

Any time there's some sort of emergency, please think of the Kitty G. story-and pull out your cell phone. From a personal standpoint, had no one pressed 911 into a pay phone the night of my crash, I'd not be writing to you now. You never know whose life you may be saving.

*****

Bystanders Ignore Hit-and-Run Victim
By STEPHEN SINGER,
AP
Posted: 2008-06-06 07:09:34
Filed Under: Nation News
HARTFORD, Conn. (June 5) - 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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