SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — A man was arrested Monday after he walked up to a Los Angeles County sheriff's detective outside a fast food restaurant, asked him if he was a law enforcement officer and then stabbed him in the chest, investigators said.

The detective was walking out of a Jack in the Box restaurant in the Canyon Country neighborhood of Santa Clarita around 10 a.m. when he was approached by a man who asked him if he was a sheriff's deputy, said Capt. Darren Harris, a sheriff's department spokesman. When the detective said yes, the man immediately stabbed him in the chest and then ran off, he said.

The 26-year veteran detective, who investigates sex crimes, was able to make his way back to his car and called for help, Harris said.

After a two-hour manhunt, deputies found Donald Chinchilla, 21, hiding in the backyard of a home a few blocks from the restaurant.

He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, Harris said. A telephone number for Chinchilla could not immediately be located in public records.

The detective, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, authorities said.