Eileen McCabe was in her car at the Banksville Plaza Shopping Center when a man jogged in front of her, pulling a bandana up over his face.

Ten minutes before 6 p.m. Friday, she had just made a grocery run and was heading home to Dormont when it hit her: "I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's robbing my bank,' " she said yesterday. "I pounded my horn to get some people around, and then I called 911."

With an adrenaline rush and a sense of duty, the mother of three pulled out behind the silver Saturn Vue fleeing the scene and followed, giving the 911 dispatcher coordinates for police to pick up the chase.

It would be a 20-mile chase ending in the arrest of John McCleavy, 36, of Pittsburgh's Ridgemont neighborhood, and Meghan Jaeger, 21, of Boardman, Ohio.

They were each being held on $250,000 straight bond yesterday after their morning arraignment on multiple counts of robbery, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment, and eluding police stemming from the robbery of the National City Bank in Banksville.

Ms. McCabe followed the Saturn sport utility vehicle up Crane Avenue and over to Saw Mill Run Boulevard, where the SUV made a right turn. As Ms. McCabe made a right, she said, "the car in front of me stopped because of the sirens. The 911 operator told me, 'Dormont and city police are right behind you.' "

Thanked personally by Dormont police who visited her home yesterday, Ms. McCabe ended her pursuit as the SUV turned up West Warrington Avenue. She decided to head back to the bank to check on the tellers, some of whom she said she has known for almost 20 years.

Of the pursuit, she said, "My adrenalin just kicked in. I knew I had to do this.

"Nothing happens in my life," she said. "I have three wonderful children, a great husband and a fabulous job, but this was some excitement for a 48-year-old woman."

An employee of the University of Pittsburgh's collections department, she said she usually takes the bus to work, but she needed to make a grocery run, so she took the car that day.

As she followed the SUV, she said, she didn't feel afraid.

"I remember thinking, 'I can't believe I'm using my turn signal to keep up with this guy,' " she said, adding that he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, a ball cap and "a very bad black wig, like something from a Halloween shop. And he was carrying a black bag."

According to an affidavit police filed in the case, Mr. McCleavy jumped onto the counter at the bank and said, "I have a gun. I don't want to hurt anybody. Give me the fifties and hundreds." He directly confronted three tellers and repeated that he had a gun and demanded money from each.

He ran from the bank with $3,000 from one teller and an undisclosed amount from the other two. He drove onto Banksville Road toward Downtown. His companion, Ms. Jaeger, told police she had driven the SUV to the scene and scooted to the passenger seat to wait for Mr. McCleavy come out of the bank.

From Saw Mill Run, the police chase wove wildly through rush-hour traffic, looped up around Beltzhoover and Mount Washington, coming down to the West End Circle and crossing the Fort Pitt Bridge and heading outbound on East Ohio Street, where the SUV collided with and damaged a truck at Chestnut Street before resuming the escape up Route 28.

The chase passed through Millvale, Shaler, Sharpsburg and Etna, threading through traffic that inched out of the way as six marked police units wailed in pursuit. The SUV reached speeds of about 80 mph at times, police said.

After exiting into Sharpsburg, the suspect reversed direction on Route 28 toward Pittsburgh, turning onto the 31st Street Bridge, where police cars finally hemmed him in, according to police.

During the chase, Pittsburgh police Lt. Timothy O'Connor's left arm was injured when his cruiser spun out of control as he tried to block the SUV on Route 28 near the 31st Street Bridge. The patrol car turned over along a low, bushy embankment and righted itself partially in the roadway as the SUV continued on Route 28.

Caught on video by television helicopters, the chase was transfixing many viewers about the time Ms. McCabe walked back into the bank to see about the tellers she called "my girls."

"When I went in and saw the look on their faces, I thought, 'My God, what did he do?' " she said.

Mr. McCleavy, who also goes by the name John McAleavey, has a lengthy criminal record dating to at least 1991. He was sentenced to serve five to 10 years in state prison in 1996 for aggravated assault, and he previously was convicted of promoting prostitution, stemming from an arrest on Feb. 25, 1995.

It appears from state court records that Mr. McCleavy currently has charges of simple assault, terroristic threats and stalking pending from Feb. 7, 2007.

Ms. Jaeger was previously arrested by Green Tree police and charged with drug possession and prostitution, stemming from an incident May 31.

A relative of Ms. Jaeger's, contacted by telephone yesterday in Ohio, expressed sadness -- but not surprise -- over her alleged involvement in the robbery and police chase.

"All her life we've had problems," said the relative, who asked not to be named.

Ms. Jaegar drifted from job to job after graduating from high school in New Middletown, Ohio, including a stint working as a waitress in a strip club, said the relative.

The relative described Mr. McCleavy as Ms. Jaegar's boyfriend, and said that a previous boyfriend of Ms. Jaeger's, also an older man, was in jail for robbing a jewelry store.

About a year ago, the relative cut off most contact with Ms. Jaeger.

"I gave up on her," said the relative. "I don't like to do that but we've given up on Meghan."