A high-ranking gang member was charged with fleeing police and in several hit-and-run accidents after investigators discovered another man who belongs to the same gang was ordered to take the blame for fleeing police and causing the crashes.

Riverside police had been looking for the driver of a Chevrolet van who officers attempted to pull over shortly before 10 a.m. on Oct. 25. The driver pulled over on Riverside Road, east of Lawton Road and put his hands out the window, according to a news release from the Riverside Police Department.

When an officer approached the van, the driver took off and caused four accidents while he was fleeing the scene, the release said. He finally struck a vehicle in a head on crash on the 7800 block of West Ogden Avenue in Lyons.

The driver then fled that scene on foot, and after more than two hours of searching, officers were not able to find him, the release said.

About 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a man walked into the Riverside Police Department lobby and said he was surrendering for fleeing from the police on Oct. 25. Police took him into custody, but after interviewing the man they discovered he didn't have his facts right about the incident, the release said.

Several officers who were at the original scene who saw the driver during the foot pursuit told investigators that the man who was surrendering was not the driver.

Investigators later found out that the man turning himself in had been ordered to take the blame for the hit-and-runs and fleeing the cops from a high-ranking member of the La Familia Stones who is over him, the release said.

On Halloween, police went to the home of the actual driver, Michael R. Garcia of the 1300 block of Wisconsin Avenue in Berwyn, and arrested him, the release said.

Garcia, 21, was charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding police, failure to stop after having an accident involving personal injury, disobeying a stop sign, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, disobeying a traffic light and driving on a suspended license, said police.

Garcia was out on bond in a 2011 aggravated battery-discharge of a weapon case out of Chicago at the time of police pursuit, the release said. Garcia was expected to appear in Cook County Bond Court today.

The man who was forced to take the blame for the hit-and-runs, Justin D. Mendoza, 22, of Chicago, was charged with obstructing justice and had an outstanding drug warrant from DuPage County. Mendoza was ordered held in lieu of $20,000 bail in a hearing today.

dawilliams@tribune.com

Twitter: @neacynewslady