A 45-year-old Saco man was charged Monday with leaving the scene of an accident Saturday in which an elderly woman was hit by a pickup truck and critically injured.

Leo Paul Bedard of Ocean Park Road was arraigned on the felony charge in Springvale District Court on Monday.

Jewell Friedman, 87, of Saco remained in critical condition Monday at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Friedman was walking her dog on Ferry Road about 10 a.m. Saturday when a westbound driver stopped to let her cross at Ocean Greens Drive, said Police Chief Brad Paul.

Witnesses told police that an eastbound pickup truck, described as white with red lettering and carrying toolboxes on either side of the pickup bed, hit her as she crossed, slowed and then kept going, Paul said.

Police got a telephone tip at 5:15 p.m. Saturday that led to the seizure of a white pickup with toolboxes and lettering, although the lettering was not red, Paul said.

The truck was seized at the Evergreen Motor Court, the motel where Bedard is living. It had damage to a headlight consistent with a collision and with pieces of debris that were found at the scene of the accident, he said.

Bedard was arrested Saturday on outstanding warrants charging him with driving after license suspension, failing to appear in court and violating conditions of release. He was charged at his arraignment Monday with leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. His bail is set at $25,000 cash or $75,000 property.

After the accident, Friedman was taken to Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford, then transferred to Maine Medical Center.

Friends of Friedman said she lives in the Atlantic Heights retirement community off Ferry Road with her dog, Selina. Her husband, Don, died in February. She held a gathering this month to celebrate his life.

Friedman and her husband were inseparable, said Maureen Croteau, who knew the couple through their work with the University of Connecticut. “The two were so devoted to each other,” she said. “I had a hard time imagining her without Don.”

The couple met in Connecticut, working at the now-defunct Manchester Evening Herald newspaper. When she was a young reporter, based in a bureau, he edited her stories and mentored her over the phone. After working together for three years, they got married.

They made a deal before tying the knot that he would pay for her to go to college and she would learn to ski.

Soon after, Don Friedman became director of public information for the University of Connecticut, where she enrolled in school while continuing to work as a reporter, then for the Hartford Times.

After she graduated, she was assigned to cover state government and was later hired by the university as its legislative liaison.

The story of their careers and relationship is outlined in the description of the University of Connecticut’s Donald and Jewell Friedman Award, which was started with a fund they set up to benefit exceptional students in the university’s journalism department.

The couple initially retired to Franconia, N.H., where they skied until they were in their 80s.

Jewell Friedman founded the Franconia Heritage Museum, where she volunteered as its curator and where an exhibit room is named for her. Friedman has been writing a historical novel about Franconia.

“She has one chapter to finish,” said her next-door neighbor, Patricia Peterlein.

Friedman and her husband moved to Saco four years ago to take advantage of the retirement community and to be closer to the beach, Croteau said.

Peterlein said they swam in the ocean every day in the summer. She called Jewell Friedman “a fixture” in the community and said she walks her dog at least four times a day, almost always on the route she took Saturday.

The dog, a Samoyed that police believe was not injured in the accident, “is like a child to Jewell,” she said.

Friedman and her husband had no children. Her grandniece is her only living relative, Peterlein said. But in her neighborhood, Friedman is beloved.

Peterlein said, “When she comes back, she’ll have a lot of friends who are here to help her.”