Well-known stage actor struck in Center City hit-and-run

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Police are looking for the driver who hit a man on Market Street in Philadelphia then kept on going.

The victim is identified as veteran stage actor and writer Michael Toner, well-known in local theater circles.

The hit-and-run accident occurred around 1:00 a.m. Tuesday on the 1100 block of Market Street during the rainstorm.

Police say Toner was crossing Market when he was run over by a vehicle.

His injury was so severe doctors had to amputate his right leg.

Police have no witnesses yet or surveillance video to help them with a description of the hit-and-run vehicle.

"There's no physical evidence left behind, no parts of the car were left behind," Philadelphia Police Captain John Wilczynski said.

Toner is a Vietnam veteran.

Back in 1991, Action News aired video of him performing in a play - the subject was war veterans.

"He's just a really good person and everybody knows that in town. Everybody loves him," friend Mimi Kenney Smith said.

Smith has been friends with Toner over the past 25 years and has worked with him on the local circuit.

"When I heard later it was a hit-and-run it's like a punch in the stomach," Smith said.

Toner was slated to begin rehearsals at the Walnut Street Theatre on a Eugene O'Neill play.

"He was a wonderful actor and to to lose a leg, your body is your instrument, it's your craft," stage manager Debi Marcucci said.

Family and Friends now hoping the driver who kept going will do the right thing

"They need to be courageous enough to come forward and take the consequences," Smith said.

"How could anybody hit a living being, a dog, a person, and leave them?" Marcucci said.