Off-Duty Buffalo Cops Involved in Near Fatal Beating; Some Cops Troubled, Talk to Newspaper

via WIVB

William Sager Jr. was being harassed at a Buffalo, New York, college bar by the manager and two off-duty cops who had worked security for the bar earlier that Saturday night.  A friend called 911 to report it and shortly after, the Buffalo News reports:

Sager was thrown down a set of stairs and placed in handcuffs while out cold.

Then, still in handcuffs and bleeding from the ears and mouth, he was dragged out on the sidewalk, a short distance from the bar. When a friend tried to intervene, he was placed under arrest.

Later, when on-duty police responded, they found an internal surveillance tape from Molly's in the trash nearby.

Sager is in an intensive care unit (ICU) and may never recover from his brain injuries. The Buffalo News pieced together what happened that night in part with the help of reports by cops who say they were troubled by the incident. Via the News again:

These reports suggest that at least one of the off-duty officers inside Molly's Pub early Sunday was more than a passive observer to the beating.

The off-duty officer retrieved his handcuffs so they could be clicked around Sager's wrists. He then complained to responding officers about Sager's friend, who was arrested.

Said one cop: "Why would an off-duty officer put handcuffs on an unconscious man?"

The concern cops say they have about the incident (crime) that happened last week isn't shared by police brass. The two off-duty cops implicated in the assault have not been arrested. They're on paid leave while the police department investigates. The FBI is reportedly also examining the incident.

Sager's friends say it's unlikely the victim "sparked the incident," as the News put it, because he was in the process of applying to be a state trooper.

Comments

[Batgirl]

To protect and serve.

[Jerry on the sea]

...and bounce.

[Austrian Anarchy]

What has this world come to when a bar manager can't kick out whomever he wants?

[sarcasmic]

I'm sure those concerned officers will soon find themselves unemployed.

[np]

I believe any cop who still has a sense of justice and hasn't quit early on, and continuously witness incidents like this probably would eventually turn into Chris Dorner

[Humberto Brenes]

What does an outraged individual do in a case like this? Besides fume impotently?

[ace_m82]

Shout from the rooftops.

And arm yourself well. And train.

[John]

The story has since been updated to include this interesting bit of information.

UPDATE: Two 911 calls were placed at about the same time ? 1:58 a.m. ? from Molly's, two law enforcement sources said May 18. A companion of Sager's called to report that the bar's staff and two off-duty officers were acting in a threatening manner and alerted authorities that his friend was in trouble. The News previously reported that it was Sager who called 911.

I seriously doubt that the victim's friend called 911 to stop a fight that his friend was responsible for starting.

Also, if I am an insurance company, no way to I insure any bar that hires off duty cops as bouncers. The cops may be above the law, but my insured sure as hell isn't above tort liability. I don't want to insure any business that hires untrained apes who have no worries of going to jail to act as bouncers.

[Paul.]

SEATTLE -- Company officials say the decision to ban firearms at CenturyLink Field is a safety issue, but the move has touched a nerve with many local law enforcement agents.

CenturyLink management has decided that off-duty officers going to events at CenturyLink as fans can no longer bring guns through the gates.

The reason I posted the above is because off-duty cops were ROUTINELY starting fights at games.

http://www.komonews.com/news/l.....48841.html

[Episiarch]

Isn't MLB doing this too at Safeco? Because I have always been routinely carrying when I go to Mariners games but it looks like that won't be OK anymore. Oh well, then, fuck you, MLB. I can always watch from my apartment or the sports bar. Shit, I can just hang out at Pyramid across the street from the stadium.

[Paul.]

Psst, I know how to get through security with small firearm at Safeco.

[Episiarch]

Do tell. You hide it in your ass, right?

[Paul.]

Given the international popularity of H & R, I'm guessing the jig will be up after I post this, but here goes.

Take a backpack-- preferably laptop bag with many pockets. I have a Ful branded backpack where there's a hidden pocket that even I didn't know was there until months after I owned it. Pocket that's behind the padded part that goes against your back-- where the straps are. You could stuff a micro pistol (Ruger LCP, S&W Bodyguard) in that large flat pocket that's padded by design. The zipper is so recessed you can't even see it.

Fill the main pockets of your back with scarves, stadium seats, blankets (depending on time of year).

They only search the obvious, main pockets of the backpack. So assuming you make it past that search, when they do the wand search, people hold their backpacks out at arms length* when they do their Jesus christ pose, and they only search your torso, waist and legs.

Boom. Who's your daddy?

*best approximation I could find. When I was last at safeco, they didn't get anywhere near the arms. Just torso/legs.

[Episiarch]

They weren't wanding people even last year, and I haven't been to a game yet this year. But yeah, I could see that working.

[Paul.]

and I haven't been to a game yet this year. But yeah, I could see that working.

You need something to protect yourself from Bellevue police.

[Paul.]

Here's a better picture depicting what I saw last time I was at the Clink for a Sounders game.

http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-con.....699006.jpg

[Brett L]

You know, if they could just do the hernia check and report it to my GP....

[Episiarch]

Yeah, fuck that. I didn't get searched at the last Sounders game I went to either, so all this shit must be new. I guess I won't be going to any more games. The MLB shit really pisses me off because I really like going to Mariners games and drinking a lot of overpriced beer and eating garlic fries.

[Paul.]

I think all they do is turn you away. It might be worth giving it a try.

[Episiarch]

Maybe. I'll have to see. Right now with my schedule making a Mariners game isn't going to happen anyway.

[Paul.]

Right now with my schedule making a Mariners game isn't going to happen anyway.

I'll be wide open after early July.

*boom*

I'm already getting short-timer syndrome.

[Andrew S.]

Goddammit. I clicked on that link, read the comments, and now I want to slice my wrists open. I hope you're happy.

[Episiarch]

You'd think, John, but hiring off-duty cops as bouncers is very common, because the venue owner gets a virtually untouchable bouncer who can, if they have to, get police backup. And the cops love making the extra money. I've seen it countless times.

[John]

I know they do it, but as cops get more and more out of control, I bet they learn not to. This bar is going to be sued into bankruptcy over this.

[Invisible Finger]

I'd bet insurance companies suggest off-duty cops be hired as security. Simply because the "cop" part probably wins more liability cases than it loses.

[Brandon]

Untrained? They are exquisitely trained to act as unquestioning enforcers for whoever is paying them.

[Agammamon]

No they aren't. At least not when they're doing security.

Then they're usually off in a corner texting Morgan Fairchild, when they're not starting fights themselves.

Oh, and if you *do* get some ruckus on the dance floor, you know what their response is - to get on the phone and call the *on-duty* cops.

Got a friend of a friend who rents out a hall for events - when she first started she used a company that has off-duty cops for security. After their piss-poor work (see the above paragraph) she fired the company and has a couple of freelance licensed guys do the work now - for 2/3 the cost.

The cop company still bugs her about hiring them. To the point that at one time they told her that she was breaking the law by not using them and several other times when cops *in uniform* came by to sell her on re-hiring the company.

[The Late P Brooks]

Get back to me when those "good" cops express their concern by ARRESTING their co-workers and testifying against them in open court.

[Bill Dalasio]

Well, that was a nut punch. Basically, the cops couldn't even be bothered to find a "lawbreaker" to take out their aggressions on. They just went into open thug mode, aggressing someone and using thier badges as shields. In a just world, they'd have their badges tattooed on their foreheads just before they were sent to prison for 20 years. But, I'm sure procedures were followed and nothing more will come of this.

[Loki]

In a just world, they'd have their badges tattooed on carved into their foreheads just before they were sent to prison for 20 years.

Think Inglorious Basterds style. "I'm gonna give you a little somethin' you can't take off." Tattoos can be removed, scar tissue, not so much.

[UnCivilServant]

Then go with a brand, it's easier to get a consistant marking than hand carving.

[Bill Dalasio]

Either of these alternatives is good with me. I would just want to make sure their fellow prisoners know just who they are.

[Loki]

The only problem with a brand is that it may kill the nerve endings which means it would be less painful and over far too quickly.

Also carving it by hand requires much more craftmanship than just using a brand. It's practically artisinal! /sarc

[Riven]

You know how to get to Carnegie Hall, right?

... Practice.

[Raston Bot]

Play the surveillance video.

[The Late P Brooks]

Sager's friends say it's unlikely the victim "sparked the incident," as the News put it, because he was in the process of applying to be a state trooper.

Really? I smell a steaming pile of, "Oh, so you think you're better than us?"

[Invisible Finger]

My thought exactly.

[Loki]

Later, when on-duty police responded, they found an internal surveillance tape from Molly's in the trash nearby.

So not only were they violent thugs, but they were too stupid to propoerly dispove of the evidence.

Said one cop: "Why would an off-duty officer put handcuffs on an unconscious man?"

He must be a rookie. He'll learn the "proper procedure" soon enough.

[The Late P Brooks]

hiring off-duty cops as bouncers is very common, because the venue owner gets a virtually untouchable bouncer who can, if they have to, get police backup.

A long, long time ago, I was working in a bar in Colorado, and I got to know a Colorado Springs cop who was a customer. I went out drinking with him (ONCE) and at some point during the night, he said, "If anything happens, call *this* number, and say *this* and we'll have reinforcements ASAP."

The baboon troop will drop everything to defend one of their own.

[Episiarch]

That's one of the perks of being in a gang.

[Invisible Finger]

People need to realize that gang = tribe.

[Jerry on the sea]

So what happens when this off-duty cop pulls a muscle throwing a guy out on friday night?

[Invisible Finger]

He'll get injured the next time he's on duty?

[Loki]

He files for disability and the rest of us get to pay his pension for the rest of his fucking life?

[Mainer2]

Last Friday night, driving home, several cop cars went by in full pursuit mode. Then several more. Probably 2 dozen all together. When I got home, I told the wife, "A cop has been shot". She assumed I had heard it on the radio. No, I knew that massive hyper response would only be for a "brother", not a private citizen. She turned on the TV, and yup...one town over from us, a cop had been shot.

And now we've gone into full cop sucking mode. The community is of course "traumatized" and the entire state of new hampshire needs to "heal" from this "tragedy".

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

I wonder how those departments would handle, say, 3 guys getting incinerated in a rocket attack... IED strike taking out 4 people...

[Pope Jimbo]

Prepare for the full page stories showing troopers from all over the state taking the day off (OK, getting paid by the taxpayers) to form a big ass motorcade for their fallen brethren.

[Rev-Match]

Sager is in an intensive care unit (ICU) and may never recover from his brain injuries.

And the perps are on paid vacation.