City police on Friday released audio tapes of two 911 calls made shortly after a 78-year-old man was struck by a car and then left alone in the street by passing motorists and pedestrians.
The tapes were released two days after police Chief Daryl Roberts publicized a surveillance video of a car striking Angel Arce Torres and leaving him paralyzed in the busy street. The video showed cars zooming past and bystanders staring at Torres from the sidewalk.
No one in the video stepped forward to help Torres, prompting Roberts to declare, "We no longer have a moral compass." City officials later acknowledged that police received four 911 calls immediately after the accident. They released portions of two calls on Friday.
"Send an ambulance quick, quick, quick, he's bleeding hard," one man implores a 911 operator.
Torres, a retired forklift operator, was struck in the two-way street after buying milk at a grocery. He was hospitalized Friday in critical condition.
The video shows two cars veer across the center line and one of the cars striking Torres. Both cars then dart down a side street.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Friday offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the motorists involved in the accident.