NANTICOKE, Pa. -- Nanticoke police are searching for the car that hit an elderly man and then drove away.
The victim, Harold Rinehimer, 78, is in the hospital recovering from his injuries. Police said he is in stable condition.
The workers at the deli at Park Market in Nanticoke are missing Rinehimer who was a regular customer.
"Very nice man," Park Market employee Christine Lyons said. "Always in here. Always a smile on his face. Even if he doesn't come back to the deli for anything, when we see him, we'll yell to him and he'll say, 'Hi! How are you?' He's always smiling."
Nanticoke police said Rinehimer was crossing Market Street Sunday night when a car hit him and drove away.
"He always walks down there three, four times a day," Park Market manager Carl Casey said. "I never even imagined that would be him."
People Newswatch 16 spoke with said Rinehimer was well known in Nanticoke, especially at his favorite restaurant: the Burger King in the city. Police said he was walking there the night he was hit.
"I was ready to cry the moment I heard it was him," Burger King manager Melissa Stowell said.
Newswatch 16 has met Rinehimer before. Last February, the workers at the Burger King threw him a birthday party. They say he has walked to the restaurant twice a day for breakfast and dinner every day for the last 20 years.
"I want him to get beyond well and back out and home," Stowell said. "Whoever it was (who hit him) either come forward or something because the poor guy has no family. He just has his friends here and around town."
Police believe the car involved in this hit-and-run is a small black sedan that would have damage on the front of it. If you have any information, you're asked to contact police in Nanticoke at 570-735-2200.