A man suspected of leading police on a chase that injured a school tutor in Lakewood last week surrendered early today in Wheat Ridge.

Manuelito Gabriel Santistevan, 26, turned himself in after two stakeouts yesterday in Jefferson County.

Santistevan is being held at the Jeffco jail on suspicion of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and burglary. Bail was set at $300,000.

He was taken into custody shortly after midnight at a gas station near West 38th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard.

His mother, Ruby Santistevan, 55, of Lakewood, said her son had called authorities early Wednesday to turn himself in but changed his mind.

Lakewood police and other authorities, including the FBI, waited for several hours for the fugitive to show up at his mother's house in the 900 block of Ingalls Street, but he never did.

She said her son became scared "when he saw all those police with all those guns. My family's human, too.

"I was just concerned about my son's safety," she said. "He was so scared. He was so scared ... He was scared for his life."

Lisa Stigall, a spokeswoman with Wheat Ridge police, said the suspect's mother called authorities to pick him up in Wheat Ridge.

The suspect wanted a bail bondsman to physically turn him over to authorities, Stigall said. It wasn't clear if it was his bail bondsman, Stigall said.

Ruby Santistevan said authorities later followed a bail bondsman's vehicle, in which the suspect was riding, to the second location in Wheat Ridge where he was to surrender.

"I wanted all the news media to be there," she said, adding she was also feared for her son's safety. "That's why I had the media there. I'm a concerned mother."

When her son surrendered, he was shirtless.

"He wanted to turn himself in but he wanted to be on record that there were no bruises and there was no body damage. And I feared for my son," she said. "I didn't want them to beat him. I know how sneaky they are."

Stigall said, "He showed up on foot. His mother had advised him to remove his shirt."

The search for Santistevan heated up last week after a Denver police detective chased a robbery suspect, identified as Santistevan, and ran into a car driven by the school tutor, flipping her sedan and seriously injuring her.

The officer was not hurt.

Santistevan is believed to be part of a group known as the "hooded safe bandits," who are linked to more than 20 armed robberies in the Denver area, police said.

Stigall said two of those robberies happened in Wheat Ridge.