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Hartford Chief: State Police Help Coming Soon

STEVEN GOODE

June 11, 2008

Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts said Tuesday that he expects a state police contingent to be on the city's streets by the middle of this month.

"We're going to have guys on beats, guys on bicycles. We're going to have a very strong presence," Roberts said.

The reinforcements, dubbed the Urban Violence Task Force by Roberts, are coming to Hartford in response to a particularly turbulent weeklong period that saw a 78-year-old man paralyzed from the neck down in a hit-and-run on Park Street, the savage beating and robbery of former Deputy Mayor Nicholas Carbone on Capitol Avenue in broad daylight, an early-morning van stolen van accident that claimed the life of a 14-year-old and two shooting deaths.

The tumult prompted Gov. M. Jodi Rell to offer a $10,000 reward for information related to the hit-and-run that was captured on a street-light video camera and left Angel Arce Torres hospitalized in critical condition, and to offer the services of the state police.

Roberts said Tuesday that he and state police officials were still working on the logistics of the operation and some of the financial aspects. The state police were last in the city in 2006.

Roberts said the reward offer has prompted a flood of tips and information.

"We received more than 100 phone calls over the weekend with some information that may prove to be of use," he said.

Hartford police spokeswoman Nancy Mulroy said Tuesday that investigators were following up on every lead and continuing to try to pin down the license plates on the two cars involved in the hit-and-run that occurred late in the afternoon of May 30.

Roberts said that investigators had also made progress in the beating and robbery of Carbone, 71, who was listed in fair condition Tuesday following facial surgery earlier in the week.

"We have found some of Mr. Carbone's personal property which we are sending to the lab to be analyzed," Roberts said.