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Man Fleeing Car Crash Trapped Between San Jose Shopping Center Walls

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A man who had to be extricated from a crevice next to an Orchard Supply Hardware store in San Jose Thursday morning may be the suspect in a hit-and-run crash that occurred nearby a few hours earlier, police said.

Police responded to a report of someone stuck in a gap next to a building at a shopping center in the 1700 block of Aborn Road at 1:47 a.m. and called fire crews for assistance, police said.

Officers located the 32-year old man trapped in a one foot wide gap between two buildings, approximately 10 to 15 feet from the roof.

Police officers called the San Jose Fire Department, who rescued the suspect from the crevice.

It took 18 rescuers about two hours to extricate the man from the crevice, San Jose fire Capt. Reggie Williams said.

KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:

Police said the man initially gave a fake name but was later identified as 32-year-old San Jose resident Arturo Aguilar Corona.

He told officers he had been chased by two men armed with knives, and had fallen into the wall while trying to escape.

However, police discovered that Corona was wanted on a warrant and may have been the driver who fled the scene of a hit-and-run crash that occurred around 10 p.m. on Wednesday at South King Road and Aborn Road, just blocks away.

In that incident, the driver of a Honda Civic crashed into an Acura Integra. A woman in the Acura was injured but is expected to survive, police said.

Police said Corona will be booked into jail after he is released from the hospital for treatment of his injuries, which are not life-threatening.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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