Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe today dramatically broke off a radio interview to jump into a taxi to arrest a suspected thief here.
Britain's top police officer was near Bruce Grove station in Tottenham, north London, when a taxi driver said his passengers had refused to pay the fare and stolen money from his dashboard.
The 57-year-old police chief jumped into the taxi in pursuit and arrested a suspect some distance away.
The Met Police said a 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft.
Bernard was taking part in a pre-recorded interview with BBC when the minicab driver approached him.
The commissioner's bodyguard, who also got into the minicab with him, arrested another suspect nearby, the BBC reported.
The driver, who gave his name as Mohammed, said he had picked up some people from a hotel in Chingford and was asked to drive them to a location but one of the passengers asked to be taken to Stamford Hill instead.
He claimed the passenger then took 20 pounds from his dashboard and ran away.
"When I see the police, I ask the police 'Please can you stop the guys?'" he said.
Asked whether he knew the officer who jumped into his cab was the head of the Met Police, the driver said "no", but added: "He's very good man, very kind man, he help us as well... He come sit in the car and searched the area as well."
In 2006, when Bernard was the chief constable of Merseyside, he sprinted after a suspected drink-driver in Liverpool after spotting him from his chauffeur-driven car.
The officer ran after the man and arrested him.
After the pursuit and arrest in Tottenham earlier, the commissioner said: "The important thing for today, at least for me, is that I have made an arrest at every rank as a police officer, so as chief constable at Merseyside, but never as commissioner, and I have been here three years - that's very slack, it's a disgrace, but today we have put it right."
Both arrested men are currently in north London police stations, the Guardian reported.
