SAN DIEGO – A woman who was struck head-on Monday morning while riding an electric Bird scooter downtown faces a long road to recovery.

“I’m just more nervous about if I’m gonna be able to walk,” 21-year-old Julia Sanchez said.

Sanchez and a 22-year-old friend were riding the scooter just after 4 a.m. near Market and 13th streets downtown when they were hit by a driver in a white Ford Explorer. She was hospitalized with a 10-inch laceration, and likely will require two future knee surgeries in hopes of repairing the damage.

The other rider on the scooter remains hospitalized with multiple fractures.

“I’m really grateful and I hope that I recover as soon as possible,” Sanchez said. “I’m a very impatient person, so I don’t know how this is going to go.”

The white SUV with visible front-end damage was spotted later in the day in the area of 3rd Avenue and K Street by a FOX 5 news crew, who alerted police to it. Police detained and questioned the male driver of the vehicle. He has not been publicly identified by authorities.

The Sanchez family say they could not believe the coincidence of locating the SUV that way.

“The odds I guess I can say — you were there at the perfect time,” said Joel Sanchez, Julia’s brother.

Julia Sanchez, a San Diego lifeguard, will take some down time as she faces surgeries to repair her knee.

“Just going back, I know it’s not going to be normal anymore,” she said.

Supporters of the two hit-and-run victims are raising money in a campaign to help pay medical costs. The link to the fundraiser is here.