Lake Forest Man Is Traced, Held in Hit-and-Run Case

A 34-year-old man suspected of drunk driving was arrested Wednesday in connection with a hit-and-run accident in which an elderly driver was seriously injured.

About 6 a.m., a driver of a utility vehicle broadsided a van driven by Alvis Tice of San Juan Capistrano on Lake Forest Drive near Overlake Drive, Sheriff’s Lt. Jay Mendez said. Tice, 76, struck a road divider and injured his back and neck.

“The other driver just took off,” Mendez said.

Several witnesses wrote down the license plate of the driver, and police traced it to the home of Kevin Leo Laxen of Lake Forest. He fit the description given by witnesses and was arrested, Mendez said.

Laxen was being held Wednesday at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond on charges of felony hit-and-run, Mendez said.

Laxen also is suspected of drunk driving, a jail spokesman said. In 1990, Laxen was convicted of a drunk-driving violation, according to records from the Department of Motor Vehicles.