Driver Sought in Deadly Hit-and-Run
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Police are searching for the driver of a car that hit and killed a retired Broadway actor near his apartment on the Upper East Side.
Allan Stevenson, 89, was struck by a red Mazda Miata at about 2:30 a.m. yesterday while he was crossing First Avenue at East 73rd Street, police officials said. The driver of the vehicle, who witnesses said was speeding, fled the scene, police said.
Stevenson, whose acting career included roles in the plays “Anne of the Thousand Days” in 1949 and “Small War on Murray Hill” in 1957, was hit while on his way to get a cup of coffee, neighbors said.
Candido Hernandez, 27, a counterman at an Italian restaurant across the street from the scene of the incident, Venezia, said Stevenson often visited the restaurant after midnight.
“He was very friendly,” Mr. Hernandez said. “In the four years I’ve worked here, he came in every night at 1 a.m.”
Stevenson, who also had roles in the films “Murder by Phone” and “Age of Innocence,” would drink a cup of coffee followed by a glass of wine, Mr. Hernandez said.
After hitting Stevenson, the driver continued up First Avenue and was last seen turning right onto East 76th Street, police said. An ambulance took Stevenson to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead, police said.
