Toronto actor in play about random violence victimized in act of random violence

Toronto actor Jeff Hanson fell victim to that cliche about art imitating life.

Hanson has a leading part in the play The Bone House, a thriller by Marty Chan about the random attacks of a serial killer.

He was walking down Toronto's Bathurst St. late Tuesday evening after a performance when a car pulled up beside him and the driver asked to borrow Hanson's iPhone to call a friend for directions, the Toronto Star reported.

Hanson leaned into the passenger-side window and handed the phone to the driver, who promptly hit the gas and took off.

“I had a fight-or-flight reaction,” Hanson told the Star.

The 29-year-old actor chose to fight, hanging on to the inside of the car as the driver sped off.

[ Related: Violent smartphone thefts increase in Montreal ]

“He booted right up to 60 kilometres an hour and started bobbing and weaving through cars,” Hanson said. “It was raining, so my boots were on the ground and I was basically skiing the cement.”

Like something out of a movie, the driver swerved around one car and into oncoming traffic as he tried to shake Hanson off.

“I was in utter disbelief that it was happening,” he told the Star. “He was swearing and yelling, ‘Let go!’ and I said, ‘You’re going 60 to 70. If I let go, I could die.’ ”

Finally, after a nightmarish block and a half, the driver turned a corner and rammed a parked car.

“I knew if I didn’t let go, he was going to pin me between [the parked car and his vehicle] and that could have been really bad,” said Hanson. “So I let go and started rolling.”

Hanson is in hospital recovering from a mild concussion, along with cuts and bruises to his face and chest.

[ More Brew: Battle for Toronto’s Ikea monkey harkens back to simpler times ]

“The victim is lucky to be alive,” Toronto Police Det. Christopher Chilvers, told the Star. “It’s incredible what this person did just to steal an iPhone.”

The Toronto Police Service said in a news release they think the same man stole two women's iPhones in separate incidents in the downtown area on May 18.

It'll be at least a few days before Hanson can rejoin the play. Surgeons assured him his face would be back to normal eventually.

“If not, you know, a few scars might make me look a little tougher,” he told the Star, chuckling.