A Florida school bus driver is being praised for saving the life of a hit-and-run victim.
A video shared by WKMG News 6 reported Stacy Hatcher was on her way to the bus depot after she dropped off Eustice High School students following a field trip on Oct. 23.
She took an unusual route, for reasons she can’t explain, and found a woman lying in the road, hit-and-run victim Abigail Stevens. Hatcher called 911 and blocked traffic with her bus to protect Stevens until help arrived.
Hatcher said, “I thought it was a prank for Halloween, you know, that someone would do to put someone in the road to kind of scare someone, which it did scare me.”
“So when I saw her, I immediately put my bus in park, and I brightened my lights, and what made me know it was a real body — I saw blood running alongside the road where she was laying, and I immediately called 911,” she added.
Hatcher noted the emotional toll this had taken. She said, “I pray for her every day, and I know God is going to bring her through because he wouldn’t have led me that way if he wasn’t.”
Click Orlando reported the victim’s sister confirmed that Stevens has more than 20 broken bones and is on a ventilator.
In addition, Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri commended Hatcher’s role in saving Stevens, “She was definitely at the right place at the right time, and she saved the human life that day,” per Click Orlando.
“She’s a hero and she should be recognized as that,” he added.
Capri also noted that although they do not have a suspect in the case they do have a vehicle lead. He stated, “Hopefully somebody will come through. Somebody saw something, somebody will know something.”
“We beg them to come forward and help us out,” he added.
