Off-duty Runnemede officer, teenage son stop CVS robber

RUNNEMEDE, N.J. (WPVI) -- An off-duty police officer and his teenage son took action when they saw a crime in progress.

Runnemede Police Sgt. Dan Murray and his 18-year-old son Bryan say it was about 8:30 p.m. Monday when they went into the CVS/Pharmacy to buy some shampoo and vitamins.

Suddenly, a customer yelled, "Stop that guy! He's a thief!"

That's when they saw a man wearing a mask running towards the exit.

"So what I did, I tackled him, I started wrestling with him a little bit, my son Bryan jumped in," Sgt. Murray said.

Surveillance footage captured the drama as the struggle ensued at the doorway of the pharmacy.

"Then he started to resist a little bit and I just got mad. I lost it cause he was trying to fight with my dad. So I just jumped in and we both had him on the ground within five seconds. It was pretty crazy," Bryan said.

Investigators say it turns out the suspect, 27-year-old Matthew P. Donahue, had just held up the pharmacist at knife-point demanding all the OxyContin, which turned out to be $11,000 worth of pills.

Uniform officers arrived a few minutes later and took Donahue into custody.

Donahue is at the Camden County Jail on $100,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for next week.

For Sgt. Murray, it was just another day on the job even when he was supposed to be off-duty.

"I'm a trained officer, I acted how every police officer should act, but my son and the other private citizen went above and beyond; they got involved and helped me stop this crime," Sgt. Murray said.

And, yes, 18-year-old Bryan Murray says he is thinking about becoming a cop.