Woman Hurt, Trapped in Crash : Accident: Rescuers with a hydraulic device pry the critically injured victim from wreckage after 20 minutes. Police arrest man they say was other driver on hit-run charge.

A badly injured woman was trapped in her car for 20 minutes Thursday after being hit head-on by a pickup truck driver who then fled but was later arrested, authorities said.

The accident at 7:30 a.m. snarled traffic for more than two hours on Sand Canyon Avenue east of the Santa Ana Freeway.

Jose Fernando Vega, 22, of Orange, was traveling west on Sand Canyon when the driver in front of him suddenly stopped, causing Vega to slam on his brakes and careen into the eastbound lane, colliding with a car driven by Sonia Todaro, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Todaro, 20, of Tustin, suffered broken legs, a broken arm, a broken jaw and internal injuries. A helicopter was summoned to airlift Todaro, who was rescued by firefighters using hydraulic equipment. She was trapped for about 20 minutes in her Ford Festiva, according to CHP Officer Angel Johnson.

“Everything was pushed back into her lap and the car was just molded around her body,” Johnson said.

While Todaro was being rescued, Vega and two passengers in the Ford pickup truck fled into an orange grove north of the Sand Canyon Avenue, CHP Officer K. Keul said.

Meanwhile, Mark Sauerwein, a vehicle mechanic for the Irvine Police Department, made a detour toward the accident scene after hearing over the police scanner that three suspects were being sought.

“I thought I could provide an extra set of eyes and ears,” Sauerwein said later.

Sauerwein met Irvine Police Sgt. Jeff Love at the orange grove and the two circled the area in their vehicles, looking through the rows of trees. As they approached each other at the far west portion of the grove, Sauerwein said he saw a man crouching behind a tree.

“Then I saw him scurrying from tree to tree,” he said. “So I looked to the officer and pointed in the direction of the subject.”

Love then several times ordered the man to surrender. After a few minutes, the man later identified as Vega appeared with his hands up over his head, according to Keul.

Vega was arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, Keul said. He remains in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Todaro was in critical condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana after undergoing surgery for the removal of her spleen and part of her liver, Johnson said.

Vega, whom authorities say was not speeding, was convicted of driving without a license twice in July, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.