Hit-run driver injures Jersey City man

A Downtown Jersey City man is in critical condition in an induced coma after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver Saturday while going to meet his wife at the Newport Centre mall, police and family members said.

The brutal crime was captured on surveillance video distributed by the Jersey City Police Department today in an effort to find the driver. (Warning: The video is graphic. The crime can be seen at the bottom of the screen at 1:02.)

The video shows 51-year-old Ricardo Torres walking into the street and immediately waving toward the black pickup truck that then runs him down and keeps going. A man waiting to cross across the street can be seen getting on his cell phone, and two people get out of a car across the street. All three gather at the corner looking toward where Torres is, off-screen.

A surveillance camera two blocks away at Marin and Eighth Street shows the pickup truck moments before it struck Torres. (Go to 1:00 in video below.)

Torres, of Second Street, is being treated at the Jersey City Medical Center, said his wife, Angela, and brother, Rafael.

Ricardo Torres lost a kidney, fractured his pelvis, suffered facial injuries and had his spleen removed.

The accident occurred at about 1:30 p.m Saturday when the black pickup truck was traveling south and struck him a few feet from the curb.

The truck, which had a silver toolbox in the bed, never stopped, the video shows.

"The driver has to do the right thing," Rafael Torres said. "How could you just leave a person there?"

"We believe in miracles and prayer, so we ask the community (to pray for him)," he added.

"The doctors say they are starting to take him off medicine to see if he his organs can begin working normally," Ricardo's brother said. "He's not out of the woods, but they are hopeful. ... It's not his time."

Jersey City police are hoping that the public can help identify the pickup truck involved. Police are asking that anyone with information to call (201) 547-JAIL.