Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros helped capture two teenage robbery suspects after a three-block chase down alleys and cross streets in northwest Washington, D.C., on Saturday, WRC-TV reported Sunday.
Cisneros told the station he was just coming out of a hair salon when he saw the two youths snatch some watches from a street vendor and begin running."Everything's a blur and you have to make an instantaneous decision, `Are you going to stand there or are you going to help?' " he told the station, adding that he was just doing his duty as a citizen.
Cisneros took off after the youths while his wife alerted a nearby police officer on a bicycle.
The policeman caught one of the suspects, while Cisneros caught up with the other.
"I put on my best police voice and I said, `Stop right there' and he obeyed me," Cisneros told reporters who caught up with him at a convention in Washington on Sunday, adding, "I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't."
Seven years ago, while serving as mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Cisneros also got directly involved in law enforcement when he helped police find a man who rammed his car.