A CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY Patrol Ford Explorer (CHP photo).

A California Highway Patrol officer was hospitalized Sunday night after his vehicle was struck in the rear by another on the Garden Grove Freeway near Euclid Street at around 8:45 p.m.

According to the Orange County Fire Authority, the officer was trapped in the car by the impact. The CHP unit had pulled over on the westbound freeway to assist a motorist with mechanical problems when a sport utility vehicle hit it and another vehicle.

The officer was extricated from his damaged automobile with the “Jaws of Life” device. He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange for treatment.

Two other people were injured in the second vehicle.

Traffic in the westbound lanes of the freeway was closed during the investigation of the crash. Information on the status of the driver of the SUV that hit the CHP unit was not available.