By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
NEW YORK – A former New York City police sergeant has been sentenced to three to nine years in prison for tossing a picnic cooler full of ice and drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died.
Erik Duran, 38, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey, a Black delivery driver and father of three. The former police sergeant said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter. He is the first former NYPD officer sentenced to prison for an on-duty death in at least two decades.
“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash,” Duran told a Bronx judge, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man’s injuries. “I never wanted this to happen,” he added, apologizing to Duprey’s family in Spanish as a court interpreter translated.
Duprey’s mother, Gretchen Soto, disputed police accounts that her son sold drugs or fled from officers. She wept as Duran spoke to the judge, previously telling the court: “There are no words to express what I feel.”
Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified, concluding that Duran hurled the cooler because he “was upset that Mr. Duprey was getting away.” If there was no cooler, the judge said, Duprey “would have driven by” Duran and “could’ve been captured another day.”
Duran was immediately taken into custody after sentencing. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will ask a court to free Duran on bail while he appeals.
“Nobody’s above the law,” a woman shouted in a courthouse hallway after the sentence was announced.
Afterward, Soto and Duprey’s partner, Pearl Velez, said they did not accept Duran’s apology.
“How you gonna say sorry now?” Velez said.
Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said thousands of officers signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison.
“Today will forever be the darkest day of our profession,” union president Vincent Vallelong said. Duran’s prison sentence, he said, “puts in the back of a police officer’s mind that they can lose their freedom” for making a split-second decision.
Officers in NYPD jackets packed the courtroom gallery, while a couple dozen protesters outside demanded justice for Duprey.
Duran’s sentence, less than the maximum of five to 15 years, matched what prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office had sought. Prosecutor Joseph Bianco said the ex-sergeant recklessly caused Duprey’s death and attempted to cover up his actions.
Defense lawyer Andrew Quinn argued for no prison time, calling Duprey’s death the “unintended and tragic consequences” of a “reckless decision” Duran made in a span of 2.5 seconds.
The 2023 incident began when Duran – part of a “buy and bust” undercover drug operation – tried to arrest Duprey after an alleged drug deal. As Duprey tried to flee on a motorized scooter, Duran picked up a bystander’s cooler and threw it.
The container struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey was not wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors argued Duran had enough time to warn others to move, but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry.
But Duran testified at his trial that he made a quick decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them.
“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said then, adding “all I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.”
Duprey’s mother, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, told the judge that her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.”
“It is an unjust incident,” Soto said. “As a mother, I have to miss him now every day.”
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
