Man hit by car and people do nothing (Page 2)

The simple act of speaking to the man on the ground to let him know that help had indeed been called would have made this slightly better overall.  Compassion people, simple compassion for another human being.  Doesn't cost anything, you don't even have to touch them!

I laid, yes, laid in the street with the woman that I stopped for and spoke quietly with her to keep her calm and still.  Unknown to me at the time, I was laying in her blood the whole time!!!  I didn't move her or try to, all I did was assure her that help was on the way and to remain as still as possible.  She became very aggitated and hysterical for a brief moment, but calmed with every word. 

Compassion, that's all was needed.

Regardlesss of any fault of anyone, my thoughts and prayers are with victim and his family.

I hope he recovers well.

 -ak-

I think it would be the one with everyone standing on their heads in crap....obviously that is where their heads were anyway

As a former paramedic who actually worked that area including that street I'll provide a bit more information.  The street it happend on is Park street which is usually an extremely busy street and I'm suprised there weren't far more bystanders.  Generally that street is bumper to bumper and crowded with pedestrians.  Yes that neighborhood is crime ridden but that pretty much describes Hartford in general.  This happened less than a mile from the State Capitol building, a very short distance to Trinity College ($$$$$) and less than 3 minutes from Hartford Hospital so there could be a lot more at play.     

Four people called 911 and I could imagine that people didn't want to touch him because he got hit by a car and tossed like a rag doll.  Additionally there's a firehouse about a minute away from where it happened and it's likely someone ran in there to get someone.    Watching that made me nauseous and I can't imagine what I would have done other than to call 911.  What is anyone going to do that might make any of that better?  Nothing as far as I can tell.  Sure it would have been a way nicer for someone to lean over and reassure him that the ambulance was coming but it's likely they were just not from 6 inches away.  There is no way that the entire neighborhood wasn't full of people screaming.  I have been there for other similar stuff and trust me there were a ton of screaming people.  The people driving by... how does anyone know that they aren't non-residents who figure that it's another Hartford homicide and want to GTFO of the 'hood  (Colin McEnroe brings this up in his article).  I find it amazingly hard to believe that ANYONE would be driving through a random bad neighborhood, see a body in the street and think "wow I should get out of my safe car and go see what's up".  What if someone had shot that guy would you want to be next?  I sure wouldn't.  How does anyone know that the kid on the scooter wasn't riding off to get that guys son?  We don't.  It's easy to call everyone there a dirtbag who hates people but I didn't see that when I worked and ate on that same street.  I have no idea of how everything played out but I'm not going to assume that the people bringing me the news are being 100% completely honest.      

The police chief and other city officials have a habit of being less than perfectly honest.  Here's a good article that gives a little more insight to this line : http://www.courant.com/news/local/columnists/hc-colin0608.artjun08,0,1739844.column.  Make no mistake Hartford is full of crime and poverty but it's no worse than Philadelphia, Baltimore or Detroit.  I assume that the car was stolen and the scumbags who were driving won't be found and that really sucks. 

I have no idea of what happened but I like the contrarian view as that's more of what I saw when I lived and worked in the area. 

Same here. Some guy was walking his bike along the shoulder, and I stopped and asked him if he needed anything. He had a flat and was out of tubes (he'd had two other flats on his ride--oy) so I gave him one of mine. All it cost me was a few minutes and the price of one tube, but it saved the guy a looong walk. 

As for the guy in the street, how hard is it to call 911 and get the guy some help? Even if you don't want to touch the guy yourself for fear of a lawsuit, he's obviously injured and could use medical attention so why not call an ambulance? Or, as Opus said, at least protect him from oncoming traffic. 

Oh, and because I'm a nerd and can't let it go: Dante's Inferno has nine circles, not seven...