Hit-and-Run Sparks Soul-Searching

A video of a 78-year-old hit-and-run victim lying paralyzed in the street has residents of Hartford, Conn., wondering what's wrong with their city, their society—and themselves. The police chief blasted Hartford this week after a wave of appalling, headline-grabbing incidents, including the savage beating of the deputy mayor and the discovery of a decomposing corpse in a recently foreclosed home.

Not everyone agrees with the chief's pronouncement that Hartfordians have lost their “moral compass” and have “no regard for each other.” The city council president, for example, says the hit-and-run story is overblown, noting that four people called 911 within a minute. But another local pol tells the Hartford Courant: "The city is out of control." (More Connecticut stories.)