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A New York City Police Department (NYPD) sergeant who fatally threw a plastic cooler at a scooter-riding suspect fleeing a drug bust was convicted of manslaughter on Friday.
Sgt. Erik Duran, 38, was found guilty of the August 2023 death of Eric Duprey, who was speeding away from undercover police along a sidewalk in the Bronx after allegedly being busted for selling them $20 worth of cocaine, trial testimony revealed, the New York Post reported.
Duran became the first NYPD officer found guilty of a crime for killing someone while on duty in New York City in a decade, the Post reported. He faces up to 15 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 19.
The case was decided by a judge rather than a jury after Duran waived his right to a jury trial.
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The case was prosecuted by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which has jurisdiction over police-involved deaths under a 2015 state law.
Surveillance video shows Duprey driving on a sidewalk toward a group of people who do not appear to be in uniform.
As he approaches, the video shows Duran picking up a red object — the cooler — and throwing it at the motorcyclist’s head from close range. Duprey then loses control and is thrown toward a tree as the motorcycle veers into the street. The bike then smashes into a metal barricade before coming to rest against a parked car. He was pronounced dead minutes after the crash, police said.
Duprey had fled as plainclothes narcotics unit officers tried to arrest him on suspicion of selling drugs in what’s known as a “buy-and-bust” operation, according to police.
Bronx Supreme Court Judge Guy Mitchell announced the verdict Friday afternoon in a courtroom filled with police officers on one side and Duprey’s relatives, friends and activists on the other, the New York Post reported. Court officers separated the groups.
Duran looked down at the defense table as the verdict was read while Duprey’s mother, Gretchen Soto, and his partner, Pearl Velez — the mother of his two children — cried in the gallery.
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“I never lost faith. I always was, you know…that justice is going to happen,” Velez told reporters afterward.
Following the conviction, Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) President Vincent Vallelong issued a statement calling the verdict a “miscarriage of justice” and stating it sends a “terrible message” to officers who use force in defense.
“We vigorously maintain Sergeant Duran’s innocence,” Vallelong said. “The verdict rendered by Judge Mitchell is clearly against the weight of the credible evidence.”
“Verdicts such as this send a terrible message to hard-working cops: Should you use force to defend yourself, your fellow police officers or the citizens of the city, no matter how justified your actions, you risk criminal charges and conviction,” Vallelong added.
According to the Post, Duran testified in his own defense, claiming he threw the cooler to protect fellow officers.
“I thought he was going to kill my guys,” Duran said during the three-week trial.
Judge Mitchell rejected that argument, ruling Duran was not justified in using deadly force.
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“After consideration of all evidence, the people proved beyond all reasonable doubt that this defendant was not justified,” the judge said.
Duran joined the NYPD in 2010 and has been recognized by the department dozens of times for what it deems excellent and meritorious police service, according to a police personnel database. Duran’s disciplinary record includes a substantiated complaint in 2022 for abusing his authority during a stop, according to the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.