Minneapolis hit-and-run crash seriously hurts noted ballroom dancer and instructor riding scooter

A motorist hit a man riding an electric scooter in south Minneapolis over the weekend and left him with serious injuries, officials said Thursday.

The hit-and-run collision occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday on Lyndale Avenue S. near W. 27th Street, police said. Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said late Thursday afternoon that investigators do not have a description of the vehicle involved.

Robert A. Foster II, an accomplished ballroom dancer on the national level, told police at the scene that he could not recall being struck as he headed north on Lyndale, a police crash report read.

Foster, 59, of Minneapolis, turned down an ambulance ride to the hospital and instead left the scene with a friend, a related police report noted.

However, one of his daughters said Wednesday night that her father was thrown 20 feet off the scooter while heading home and appeared to be only slightly hurt before his condition quickly worsened.

"He was chatting with the EMTs and cops while at the scene, but once he got to the hospital, he seized," Cara Foster wrote on an online fundraising campaign that she started to help with medical expenses. "They gave him some meds, then he seized again and again."

Cara Foster's mother, Jennifer Foster, posted on Facebook that "we are all concerned, anxious and sad, even angry about the driver who left the scene."

Robert Foster is a well-known ballroom dancer and instructor, said Jennifer Foster, who started her dance career with him in the 1980s and is grateful that he suffered no broken bones or head injuries.

She said he won national dance championships in 1996, 2000 and 2001, and has since turned his attention to teaching in the Twin Cities and coaching competitive dancers.

"I'm sure he will be able to" resume his time on the dance floor, she added.