TUSTIN : Man Trapped for 5 Hours After Wreck

A 22-year-old man is “lucky to be alive,” police said, after he lost control of his pickup truck early Tuesday morning, went down a 70-foot embankment, and lay injured and trapped until he was discovered five hours later.

Kenneth Weagant of Irvine was driving north on Jamboree Road north of Edinger Avenue when the accident occurred just after midnight, said Tustin Police Officer George Vallevieni.

“He told investigators that he was attempting to put a tape in his cassette player and looked away,” Vallevieni said. “He lost control, hit the curb and went down the embankment. When he hit the bottom, nose first, the truck flipped twice and came to rest near the bridge near a railroad track.”

Weagant suffered a collapsed lung and a broken right leg, arm and collarbone in the accident. He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he is in serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The accident apparently went unnoticed for more than five hours in the darkness. At 5:35 a.m., police were called by a passing motorist and discovered Weagant. The dashboard and steering wheel of his truck had collapsed in the accident, trapping him inside.

“He was able to talk to investigators and make a statement at the hospital,” Vallevieni said. “It looks like he is going to be OK.”

Police said Weagant was not speeding at the time of the accident.