Hit-and-run driver injures man

A man in his late 60s was struck and seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver early yesterday as he was buying a copy of the Sunday Inquirer.

Police said the accident happened at the intersection of 29th and Dauphin Streets around 6:30 a.m.

The man, who was trying to buy a paper from a street hawker, was taken to Temple University Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. Police declined to identify him.

"They were standing so close together that the hawker could have been hit, too," said Greg Keeley, a street-sales supervisor for The Inquirer. He said the victim was a regular customer who often stopped to chat with the hawker after buying the paper.

Keeley said the car, which the hawker identified as a gray Mazda, was southbound on 29th Street at high speed at the time of the accident.

The car sped away and no arrests were made.

- Chris Mondics