The Buffalo Common Council approved a $3.3 million settlement Tuesday in connection with a 2014 incident in which a bar patron died after being pushed down the stairs at Molly’s Pub in North Buffalo.
William Sager, a 28-year old Air National Guardsman, was pushed by the bar’s manager Jeffery J. Basil on May 11, 2014. Sager suffered severe injuries and died on July 31, 2014, after spending more than two months in a coma.
The following year, Basil was sentenced to 18 years in prison for manslaughter as part of a plea deal.
On the night of the incident, two off-duty Buffalo Police Officers – Adam O’ Shei and Robert Eloff Jr. - were working security at the bar which has since closed.
The council also approved a $290,000 settlement to Donald Hall, Sager’s friend who was illegally handcuffed by Eloff while attempting to help Sager that night.
The $3.3 million settlement announced with the City of Buffalo also includes the Buffalo Police Department, former Buffalo Police Department Commissioner Daniel Derenda and the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association according to a press release by Sager’s family, who will receive the money.
"This resolution doesn't change what happened to Bill, but I feel that with this, the Buffalo Police Department understands and acknowledges their role in what transpired at that bar all those years ago. I am grateful to the City of Buffalo for the policy changes they have implemented since Bill's assault. I hope that they have prevented additional tragedies so that his death was not in vain,” said Erika Webster, William Sager Jr.’s fiancé. “Bill lived his life with great meaning and purpose and all we wanted was to ensure that meaning was extended beyond his premature loss of life."
According to Ronald J. Wright, an attorney who served as co-counsel on behalf of the Sager family, there is still a separate lawsuit pending in relation to the incident. A trial date has yet to be set.
