2 seriously hurt in separate hit-and-run incidents

Two people, including a Temple University Law School student, were in extremely critical condition yesterday after they were struck in separate hit-and-runs in the city.

Police did not identify the victims, but Temple officials identified one as Tony Foltz, a third-year law student.

At 2:36 a.m., Foltz, 24, was hit while he was walking across Benjamin Franklin Parkway near 22nd Street, by the Rodin Museum.

He suffered a skull fracture, broken bones and internal injuries, and was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, said Sgt. Lawrence Ritchie, of the Accident Investigation District.

Police are searching for the driver, who is believed to have fled in a white Ford Escort or Mercury Topaz.

In a notice yesterday to law-school students and faculty, Marylouise Esten, law-school associate dean, said that she and JoAnne Epps, the dean, visited briefly with Foltz and his family yesterday afternoon at the hospital, where Foltz had surgery.

The notice said that Foltz's parents both graduated from the law school in 1980. "They are grateful for your thoughts and prayers," Esten wrote.

Also yesterday, about 4 a.m., a 36-year-old man was hit on Broad Street near Grange Avenue, at the border of the Ogontz and Fern Rock sections of the city. He was walking with his girlfriend, who was not struck, Ritchie said.

The man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Police are searching for the driver of a black Lincoln Continental with tinted windows.

Ritchie said he did not know in either case if the drivers went through red or green lights.

These latest incidents anger Theresa Sautter, a mother whose 15-year-old daughter, Marylee Otto, was killed by a hit-and-run driver March 28, 2008, in Northeast Philadelphia.

"It's out of control is what it is," Sautter said yesterday. "Something is wrong here. There's a total disregard for people."

Michelle Johnson, 42, who worked as a nurse in the Philadelphia Prison System, is serving a one- to two-year prison term.

Sautter is trying to get the state Legislature to increase the mandatory-minimum sentence for someone who flees the scene of an accident.

State Sen. Michael Stack, D-Northeast Philadelphia, has sponsored a Senate bill that aims to increase the mandatory minimum for someone who flees the scene of a fatal accident from one year in prison to five years. The bill would raise the mandatory-minimum sentence from 90 days to two years if the victim suffers a serious injury.

Sautter is planning a balloon release for victims of hit-and-runs at the site where her daughter was killed, Rhawn Street near Lexington Avenue, from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

She and Marylee's friends will also gather petition signatures to urge state legislators and the governor to increase the mandatory-minimum sentences.

Any families of victims of hit-and-runs who would like to contact Sautter can reach her at 267-636-3486.