A Boston parking valet said he had "no choice" but to chase an alleged carjacker with an umbrella.

"I had no other choice but to go after him," Felix Vega told the Boston Herald. "He picked on a lady. Why someone so defenseless?"

Vega and another witness were credited with collaring the knife-wielding suspect outside a downtown condominium complex Monday night after he allegedly accosted the woman who had just picked up her vehicle.

"I gave her the key, and a moment later, a gentleman approached her from behind and pushed her into the vehicle with a knife," said the 23-year-old Vega. "I heard her basically begging for her life."

The Herald said Vega launched his counterattack armed with an umbrella, which he used to beat the suspect until it broke. The commotion attracted the attention of Jay King, 50, of Dorchester, who joined in the fray and kept the suspect from escaping until a nearby police officer arrived.

The newspaper said the suspect, Richard Morse, 48, of Boston, was held on $150,000 bail and reportedly told police he wanted to return to jail.