Off-Duty Police Captain Thwarts Pick 'n Save Shoplifting Attempt

A 16-year-old girl and her 33-year-old cousin, both from Milwaukee, found out Thursday that an off-duty police officer is never quite off-duty.

While shopping at , at approximately 1:45 p.m. Thursday, Greenfield Police Department Captain Michael Brunner noticed a commotion in the parking lot, a police report said. There, the girl and woman were scuffling with a grocery store employee, who accused them of taking a shopping cart full of groceries without paying.

Brunner, along with an off-duty Veteran's Affair police officer, took the woman into custody. Taking the girl into custody, however, was no easy task. According to police, she refused to get out of the vehicle and kicked and hit Brunner several times before he, the other off-duty officer and on on-duty officer finally removed her.

The girl admitted to coming to the store with her cousin, and watching her load the cart with grocery items, the report said. She also admitted to pushing the cart out of the store without paying. She told police that when a Pick 'n Save employee and her cousin started scuffling outside the vehicle, she got out of the car and tried to push the employee away.

Police recovered nearly $280 in miscellaneous items, including $125 in baby formula.

The teenager was cited for retail theft, resisting an officer and possession of marijuana after police found a baggie of pot in the girl’s boot.

The woman, who was out on bail for another crime, was arrested for bail jumping and retail theft. The District Attorney’s office was to review her case Friday morning.