A 9-year-old, eastern Rowan boy remained in critical condition this morning, four days after he pedaled his bicycle in front of a car.

Robert Edward Lingerfelt, 9, of 220 Panfish Lane, was riding his bicycle at the intersection of Fisherman’s Lane and St. Matthew’s Church Road when he ran the stop sign about 6 p.m. Friday, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol.

A patrol report said the bicycle struck the side of a 1992 Ford driven by Stephanie Brook Dorton, 16, of 310 Boating Terrace. A trooper estimated Dorton was driving about 35 mph.

Investigators are still reconstructing the accident, but they concluded preliminarily that Dorton was not at fault, the Highway Patrol reported.

This morning, Dorton was able to talk for a few minutes. She remembers entering the intersection as a van approached her from the opposite direction. She didn’t even notice the bike near the intersection.

Suddenly, Lingerfelt appeared from behind the van as the two vehicles passed. The bicycle struck her car’s left front fender.

The boy bounced off her car, and she immediately got out. She didn’t try to do anything for fear of hurting him more.

Instead, she tried to talk to Lingerfelt and keep him conscious, but all he was doing was moaning.

“I didn’t even see him, “ Dorton said.“That’s how close he was to that van. He was going really fast.”

She couldn’t drive her car afterwards because of the damage to her fender.

Dorton is worried about the little boy and said, “I just wish he would be all right.”

Lingerfelt was taken to Rowan Regional Medical Center and then transferred to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he remains in critical condition, in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Lingerfelt is a student at Morgan Elementary School. School officials could not be reached for comment this morning.

Contact Joanie Morris at 704-797-4264 or jmorris@salisburypost.com .