HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – When Aldine Independent School District bus driver Regina Pruitt was on her route on Aug. 31, she saw a slow-moving pickup with its lights blinking.
"When I saw him, I'm like, 'OK, what is he doing?'Â Then the little girl shot out from around the tree waving, flagging, hollering and flagging me down," Pruitt said.
A 15-year-old girl was walking home from Eisenhower High School and she said the driver of the truck was following her.
"I stopped and I said, 'Are you OK? Is he bothering you?' She said, ‘Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. He's been following me. He's been following me.’ So I told her to just get on the bus and I'll take you home," Pruitt said.
The Harris County Precinct 1 Constable said that teen told her dad, who then flagged down a constable’s deputy.
With the help of her description and bus surveillance video, deputies arrested 49-year-old Jose Huerta. He is accused of exposing himself to the teen.
Constable Alan Rosen said the case could have ended differently without Pruitt’s help.
"We have a bus driver. We have an everyday citizen that took it upon themselves to get involved in a way that helped us solve the case. They didn't put themselves in harm's way. They saved the child by allowing the child to get on the bus. But we need more people like this," Rosen said.
Pruitt told KPRC 2 that she would hope others would do the same.
“I just thank God I was in the right place at the right time," Pruitt said.