Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala fended off an attempted robbery at a bank cash machine Sunday and provided police with information that led to three arrests.
Shalala, 58, was not hurt.
The incident occurred about 7:15 a.m. after she had withdrawn money from an ATM near her home in the Georgetown section of town and was walking back to her car, said Lt. Pat Burke of the District of Columbia Police.
When a man tried to grab Shalala’s wallet, she fell to the ground and screamed, Burke said. When a witness approached, the man and a woman standing nearby jumped into their car, joining a second woman already behind the wheel. The three then drove off. Shalala noted the license plate and called police, Burke said.
Police later apprehended three suspects in another part of Georgetown.
