{"id":100562,"date":"2026-01-14T22:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100562\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:33:25","slug":"trial-begins-for-nypd-sergeant-erik-druan-in-death-of-eric-duprey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100562\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial begins for NYPD sergeant Erik Druan in death of Eric Duprey"},"content":{"rendered":"

An undercover NYPD sergeant feared for his life when he made a split-second decision to throw a cooler at a scooter-riding drug suspect<\/a> who then crashed and died nearly three years ago, his attorney reportedly argued as his high-profile Bronx trial kicked off Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Erik Duran, 38, is facing trial in Bronx Criminal Court on charges of second-degree manslaughter<\/a>, assault and criminal negligent homicide for the death of Eric Duprey, 30, on Aug. 23, 2023.<\/p>\n

During opening statements, defense attorney Andrew Quinn argued the officer feared for his life and did what \u201call good cops\u201d do by stepping \u201ctoward the danger\u201d as Duprey sped his motorcycle at 30 mph down a sidewalk toward Duran and others during a drug bust, Gothamist reported.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Sgt. Erik Duran, 38, is currently on trial in Bronx Criminal Court for the death of Eric Duprey. Pool: Dean Moses\/ AMny<\/p>\n

\u201cErik Duran was given two-and-a-half seconds to make a life or death decision, and that was because of Eric Duprey\u2019s decisions,\u201d Quinn told Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell, who will decide the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t teach officers to throw coolers, but when that is the only way to save a life, that is what they should do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran was conducting a buy-and-bust operation<\/a> on Aqueduct Avenue near West 190th Street in Kingsbridge Heights when Duprey took off on a motorized scooter, according to the state attorney general\u2019s office, which is prosecuting the case.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Duran grabbed a cooler off a nearby table and lobbed it at the fleeing suspect<\/a>, striking him in the head before he crashed into a tree and was flung from the scooter, slamming his head on the curb.<\/p>\n

Eric Duprey died \u201calmost instantaneously\u201d from blunt force trauma to the head following the chaotic encounter. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n

Duprey died \u201calmost instantaneously\u201d from blunt force trauma to the head.<\/p>\n

Attorney General\u2019s Investigative Counsel Angel Chiohh told the court Duprey\u2019s head wound was so severe, first responders found chunks of his brain smeared across the scene, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Duprey was not a threat to life,\u201d she said, accusing Duran of choosing \u201cviolence when violence wasn\u2019t necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surveillance video capturing the NYPD sergeant striking the suspect with a cooler during a drug bust.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one was in danger of dying that day. No one should have died that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiohh charged that the Big Apple cop grew \u201cflustered\u201d when the operation didn\u2019t go as planned, and recklessly chucked the heavy, full cooler to \u201csave an arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant wasn\u2019t scared for his life or the lives of anyone else,\u201d Chiohh said, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s defense attorneys argued he made a split-second life or death decision when he threw the cooler. Pool: Dean Moses\/ AMny<\/p>\n

Duran, who has pleaded not guilty, was supported by fellow officers at his arraignment. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did what he did not to save lives, not because he was scared, but to save an arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage obtained by The Post captured the moment the white cooler struck Duprey, who was on his scooter, veering from the sidewalk into the street before tumbling from his ride as multiple bystanders surrounded him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Duran was suspended from the NYPD and later placed on modified duty following the fatal encounter, according to the attorney general\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duran, who has pleaded not guilty, remained stone-faced during opening statements as his family and supporters sat behind him, while Duprey\u2019s family and the public filled the opposite side of the packed courtroom, the outlet reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A manslaughter conviction could send him to prison for up to 25 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An undercover NYPD sergeant feared for his life when he made a split-second decision to throw a cooler…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,303,6070,57,9,24,63,103,241,129,131,130,4721,58],"class_list":["post-100562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-crime","tag-manslaughter","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-police-officers","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-trials","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}