A decision is expected Friday in the trial against an NYPD sergeant accused of killing a man by throwing a cooler at his head during an attempted drug bust.

The New York attorney general’s office accused Erik Duran of using excessive force in an attempt to salvage a botched arrest when he threw a cooler at Eric Duprey in August 2023. Duran’s defense attorney argued the sergeant made a split-second decision to protect himself and others.

Bronx Justice Guy Mitchell will determine whether Duran is guilty — not a jury.

Duran is the first NYPD officer to stand trial for killing someone while on duty since New York adopted a law that requires the attorney general’s office to investigate killings by law enforcement.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. If convicted of the most serious charge, he faces up to 25 years in prison, according to the attorney general’s office.

Duran and other Bronx narcotics officers were working undercover on Aug. 23, 2023 to arrest drug dealers at several locations around the borough, Attorney General’s Investigative Counsel Angel Chiohh said during opening statements. As officers tried to stop Duprey on Aqueduct Avenue, she said, he fled on a motorbike.

At that point, Chiohh said, Duran was “flustered” and eager to arrest Duprey. The sergeant picked up a cooler filled with drinks and hurled it at Duprey, knocking him off his scooter and onto the pavement, where he cracked open his head and died almost instantly, the prosecutor said.

“The defendant had no right to use deadly physical force to stop and arrest Mr. Duprey,” Chiohh said at trial. “He was not an imminent threat and should be alive today.”

Duran’s defense attorney Andrew Quinn argued at trial that the sergeant thought Duprey was going to drive his motorbike into officers or members of the public, “causing carnage.”

“We don’t teach officers to throw coolers, but when that is the only way to save a life, that is what they should do,” he said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.