Citizen cites roughing-up
outside bar, intimidation
Leonard F. Jacuzzo is convinced
that when Buffalo police would moonlight as bar security, they served the bar,
not the community. He learned this the hard way about a year ago and wishes now
that he had complained loudly and publicly.
Jacuzzo says that if he had
raised a ruckus, maybe the State Liquor Authority would have spoken up at the
time to tell the Buffalo Police Department it was violating state law by
allowing its sworn officers to work off-duty for bar owners. Maybe Buffalo
would have banned the practice in 2013.
Then, Jacuzzo wonders, would a
bar manager in University Heights still have shoved a patron down a flight of
stairs on Mother’s Day 2014?
Would William C. Sager Jr.’s
attacker have been so bold without his own force of two off-duty cops there to
back him up?
“The saddest part of this whole
thing, for me, is that I did not successfully pursue justice in my case,” said
Jacuzzo, an adjunct professor who teaches courses in ethics and logic at SUNY
Fredonia. “Had I done so, and had the laws regarding police as bouncers come to
public attention, the Molly’s incident may not have occurred.”
Days after bar manager Jeffrey
J. Basil was charged in that assault in Molly’s Pub, which was witnessed by two
off-duty officers working security for the bar, Buffalo Police Commissioner
