Driver Who Hit Vereen Identified

The driver of the truck that struck and critically injured actor-dancer Ben Vereen was identified Wednesday as record producer David Foster, who authorities said participated with Vereen in an AIDs benefit two weeks ago.

Foster lives near Vereen in Malibu, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said, and was on his way home from a late recording session at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday when he encountered the 45-year-old Vereen walking on or trying to cross a dark, hilltop stretch of Pacific Coast Highway. Foster swerved his Chevrolet Suburban to avoid hitting the entertainer, investigators said, but Vereen ran in the same direction.

Vereen remained in an intensive care unit after undergoing four hours of surgery Tuesday for internal and head injuries and a fractured leg. Six hours before the accident, Vereen had fallen asleep at the wheel of his Corvette on another stretch of PCH and run through a planter into a tree, said Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Evans.