School resource officer hailed as hero for locating missing, injured student with disabilities

OAK LAWN, Ill. (CBS) -- A student with disabilities ended up in the emergency room after being severely injured in a hit-and-run – and left unable to speak.

His family couldn't find him, and even police tried – but failed. But as CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported Friday night, the young man's school resource officer didn't give up – and eventually tracked him down.

A walk home earlier this month took a horrible turn for the young man, Kyle Jenkins. His grandmother and guardian, Viola Morgan, remembers speaking to him.

"He called and said, 'Grandma, I'm my way home,'" Morgan said. "I said, 'Okay, I'll be looking out for you.'"

Yet hours went by, and Jenkins never came home.

"I kept calling the phone, calling," Morgan said.

Morgan eventually called the adult transition program at School District 218 in Oak Lawn.

"I asked the school, 'Did he show up?'" Morgan said, "and they told me no."

Morgan called police and filed a missing persons report. Jenkins is 21, but he has the cognitive skills of a preteen – and his grandmother was worried.

But someone did jump into action when Morgan reached out to the school.

"So I knew something was wrong immediately," said Chris Harris.

Chris Harris isn't a teacher. He is the school resource officer where Jenkins and other adults disabilities attend.

"The job of school resource officer goes way beyond the school. This is this what people fail to realize," Harris said. "From the time that you leave home to time that you arrive to school, you're my family."

And Harris went to work to find "family."

"He went beyond his duties of what he should've done – he went over and beyond," Morgan said.

Harris explained that he went door-to-door – "knocking on doors, basic police work, canvassing the area."

After three days, there was still no sign of Jenkins – and it wasn't looking up.

"My worry was that he may have been accosted, killed," Harris said.

"It was a scary situation," added Morgan. "I wanted to ask him to check to the morgue – I wanted to, but I was afraid. I didn't want them to say yes."

It turned out Jenkins was the victim of a serious hit-and-run. Someone ran him over and left him on the side of the road in Dixmoor.

He was in the ER as a John Doe – unable to speak.

"They say he has traumatic brain injury," Morgan said.

Jenkins lost his phone and ID in the hit-and-run. Yet remember all the detective work Officer Harris was doing.

Once Harris fond out Advocate Christ Medical Center had two John Does, he brought a picture showing Jenkins in some "Rugrats" pants and demanded to see if one of the patients they brought was wearing such pants.

Harris convinced the hospital to let him into the room.

"I looked over and saw that face. I instantly knew who he was. I came back and I said, 'No, that's Kyle Jenkins. That's him right there," Harris said. "And she said, 'Well, how can you be sure?' And I explained to her, I said, 'I see him five out of seven days. I said, 'This kid and I interact constantly. I counsel him.'"

While Jenkins' recovery is long, his grandmother is prayerful and appreciative for her new family friend in Chris Harris.

"He didn't give up, and I was so grateful for that," Morgan said.