Police: Friends concoct story to cover up drunk driving

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An elaborate story designed to cover up an alleged drunk driving rollover crash near northwest suburban Marengo didn’t quite work out for two friends.

Hipolito Garcia-Mercado, 21, of Kenosha, Wis., allegedly told police he was being held at gunpoint by a man, whom deputies found fleeing the scene of a crash at Route 20 and Meyer Road just after 11:30 p.m. Saturday, a release from McHenry County Sheriff’s office said.

Garcia-Mercado was a passenger in the 1995 Dodge Neon, the release said.

But the driver, Fidel Fuentes-Contreras, was found after a search of the area and positively identified as the man who ran from the scene, the release said.

Subsequent interviews revealed there was no firearm involved and that the two were friends trying to cover up their drunken driving, the release said.

Both were medically cleared and taken into custody Sunday, though DUI charges against Fuentes-Contreras could not be filed because of the time frame involved, the release said.

Garcia-Mercado was charged with obstruction of justice, a Class 4 felony, while Fuentes-Contreras, of Belvidere, was charged with one count each of leaving the scene, no valid driver’s license and identity obstruction, all misdemeanors.