A 9-year-old boy from eastern Rowan County died this morning, five days after he was hit by a car on his bicycle.

An official at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem said Robert Edward Lingerfelt, of 220 Panfish Lane, died at 4:30 a.m.

The boy was riding his bicycle at the intersection of Fisherman’s Lane and St. Matthew’s Church Road about 6 p.m. Friday when he ran a stop sign and hit the side of Stephanie Brook Dorton’s 1992 Ford.

The N.C. Highway Patrol is still reconstructing the scene of the accident. A preliminary investigation found that Dorton was not at fault, a report said.

Lingerfelt had just finished the first grade at Morgan Elementary School.

“He was just a good little boy,” Principal Tim Smith said. “It’s always hard on the class and school when we lose a student.”

Mendy Benge, Lingerfelt’s first-grade teacher, said, “He was always a quiet child. He worked hard and had all A’s.”

Benge had seen him just a week ago, smiling and cheerful as always.

“I’m going to miss him so much,” she added. “You count on seeing kids every day. You don’t count on them not coming back.”

Linn-Honeycutt Funeral Home-China Grove is handling the funeral. Plans for the service were not finalized this morning.