BLUFF CITY, Tenn. — Gail Pridemore, a school bus driver for contractor Holston Bus Co., had stopped to pick up a student in front of his house last week when a car failed to stop and struck the 12-year-old before fleeing the scene.

Pridemore said she had the bus’ overhead lights on and stop sign activated when fifth-grader Charles Calvin Whitt, known as C.C., began to cross the street. As Powers approached, Pridemore tried to get the motorist’s attention by waving her hands and yelling.

The oncoming vehicle struck the boy with the driver’s side front bumper, throwing him onto the windshield and over the car. Pridemore used her cell phone to call 911.

Whitt was transported to Johnson City Medical Center by helicopter with a broken left leg, broken collar bone, concussion, hairline fracture to his shoulder blade and bruising of his brain. Despite his injures, the boy was listed in stable condition and remains in the hospital for recovery.

Instead of driving home after completing her run, Pridemore returned to the area of the accident and searched for the late-model maroon Toyota that had fled the scene. She said she felt compelled to find the hit-and-run driver.

“It was just like something was eating at me,” Pridemore said. “You start to love these kids. It’s as close to your own as you can get without it being your own.”

After a friend living in the neighborhood tipped her off to the Toyota’s location, Pridemore notified law enforcement. The descriptions that she had given at the scene helped Sullivan County police identify the driver and his car, which had been abandoned.

The motorist, identified as James Gregory Powers, 33, was apprehended and charged with reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, DUI fourth offense, failure to stop for a school bus, leaving the scene of an accident with serious injuries, tampering with evidence and driving uninsured.