A Toronto teacher who confronted vandals throwing eggs at his home was seriously injured when he was struck by a vehicle, police say.

Michael Stewart, 39, was struck by a light-coloured minivan at about 1 a.m. ET Wednesday outside his home on Barford Road, near Kipling Avenue and Albion Road.

Police said vandals had thrown eggs at Stewart's house, and he had gone outside carrying a baseball bat, looking to confront them.

However, witnesses told police that Stewart used the baseball bat to smash windows of the van where the eggs had come from. That's when the driver ran him over.

"We believe that when he was struck by this van that he was thrown up and over, and onto the road," Const. Hugh Smith of Toronto Traffic Services said.

The injuries to his legs and back are "life-altering," Smith said. "He could go from broken legs to paralysis. We don't know at this point."

At Sunnybrook Hospital, where Stewart underwent emergency surgery, his wife asked the media for privacy.

The minivan driver fled the scene after Stewart was struck. Smith said police are asking people and the auto glass industry to be on the lookout for any minivans with fresh front-end damage and broken tinted glass anywhere on the vehicle.