DNA will be compared with video equipment

A judge Monday ordered a suspended Buffalo police officer, who was working off-duty security outside Mollys Pub on the night a bar patron was attacked, to give authorities a DNA sample.

Prosecutors want Officer Robert E. Eloffs DNA to determine whether he had any role in an attempt to throw away a bar surveillance video after the May 11 attack on William C. Sager Jr. in the University Heights bar.

Authorities charged bar manager Jeffrey J. Basil with first-degree assault for allegedly pushing Sager down the stairs, leaving the 28-year-old Air National Guardsman in critical condition with a severe brain injury.

Eloff was seen alongside Basil on a digital recording entering the office where the bars surveillance hardware was kept.

Basil, according to police sources, removed a key device and disposed of it in a garbage can outside, away from Mollys. The device and digital images have been recovered, police sources say.

At Mondays hearing, State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski granted Assistant District Attorney Christopher J. Bellings request for an order directing Eloff to give a DNA sample.

Belling told the judge that the bars video equipment was tampered with the night of the attack.

He cited testimony by another suspended Buffalo police officer, Adam E. OShei, who also worked off-duty security with Eloff that night outside the bar. Belling also cited the digital recording showing Eloff with Basil when they entered the office.

The prosecutor said investigators checked the equipment for DNA and need Eloffs DNA for comparison.

He said Eloff had previously consented to give a DNA sample. He questioned why the officer was not in court.

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DNA will be compared with video equipment