A 16-year-old Hartford girl is recovering from broken bones after a driver struck her near a bus stop and then took off, leaving her father to demand answers and the city to re-examine an intersection that pedestrians say has long felt unsafe. Evallice Torres was hospitalized following the crash at New Britain Avenue and Zion Street, and she now faces a stretch of rehabilitation as she heals.
According to NBC Connecticut, dash-camera video from a nearby vehicle shows Torres crossing the intersection shortly before she was struck. The driver stopped briefly after the crash, but the vehicle drove off as the fire department began arriving, the outlet reports. Hartford police are now searching for a red Nissan Maxima whose license plates were registered to a different vehicle — a detail significant enough that investigators declined to release the plate numbers publicly.
Her father, Juan Torres, said his son chased after the fleeing car and managed to capture crucial evidence. “My son happened to run after the car and at least record the plate,” he said, per the same outlet. Torres called the driver “heartless and cold-blooded” for leaving the scene, and he said he's grateful for the dash-camera footage that could help investigators, calling it potentially important to the case.
People Stepped In Before Firefighters Arrived
Before emergency crews reached the scene, people nearby rushed to help the injured teenager, the report notes. Firefighters ultimately arrived and took her to the hospital, where she was treated for broken bones and is expected to need rehabilitation as part of her recovery. Torres has publicly urged the driver to come forward, saying he believes the person responsible will eventually be caught.
Torres also connected his daughter's injury to a broader concern he has about neighborhood safety, saying children crossing streets on their way to school need safer areas to do so. At the intersection where his daughter was hit, there is a button pedestrians can press to request a crossing, but no crosswalk light indicating when it's actually safe to go. Christopher Pandeiguana said adding crosswalk lights could help pedestrians who are otherwise left guessing about timing, according to the same report.
City Says Crash Puts Intersection Under Review
The City of Hartford said the intersection has not recently had a high number of crashes, but it has now been placed on a high-priority list for review for potential safety upgrades following this incident, the outlet reports. The review could lead to safety changes.
The crash adds to a running conversation about pedestrian safety along Hartford's roadways. At the Main Street and Albany Avenue intersection, at least 15 crashes have occurred since 2015, according to a separate NBC Connecticut report. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has proposed replacing that intersection's traffic signal, realigning its geometry, cutting the number of travel lanes and shortening pedestrian crossings, though construction wouldn't begin until 2028 if the plans move forward. State officials have pointed to a high number of angled crashes there as part of the justification for the overhaul.
A Corridor With a History of Serious Crashes
New Britain Avenue itself has drawn scrutiny for years. Between January 2020 and May 2022, the roadway saw 154 crashes involving 436 people, and the stretch between Hillside Avenue and Julius Street recorded five fatal crashes from 2018 through mid-2022 — including one pedestrian killed in March of that year, according to the Stamford Advocate. By 2023, the corridor had logged 315 crashes since the start of 2020, prompting the city to plan a roundabout at White Street and Chandler Street after an engineering study found it to be the safest available option, per CT Insider. That roundabout project carried a $3.2 million budget funded through the state's local transportation capital improvement program.
New Britain Avenue-area plans also call for a road diet that would reduce the number of travel lanes.
The dangers of Hartford's streets aren't limited to daylight hours or to pedestrians. In a separate incident, 31-year-old Keyshia M. Ortiz-Benitez was killed in an early-morning hit-and-run near Ledyard Street, south of Wawarme Avenue, according to WTNH. Police said the vehicle involved fled southbound and its make and model remained unknown. For now, Torres is focused on his daughter's recovery and on pressing Hartford police to find the driver who left her in the road.
