{"id":100576,"date":"2026-01-14T22:43:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100576\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:43:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:43:24","slug":"sergeant-accused-of-murdering-man-in-the-bronx-with-cooler-is-first-cop-prosecuted-in-more-than-a-decade-amnewyork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/100576\/","title":{"rendered":"Sergeant accused of murdering man in the Bronx with cooler is first cop prosecuted in more than a decade \u2013 amNewYork"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bench trial for NYPD<\/a> Sergeant Erik Duran, accused of murdering a man by throwing a cooler at his head<\/a>, began in the Bronx on Wednesday \u2014 the first active member of the department to be prosecuted in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators outside the Bronx Hall of Justice, located at 265 East 161st St., rallied to demand Duran\u2019s conviction as the case got underway inside. In the coming days, a judge \u2014 not a jury or the court of public opinion \u2014 will decide the sergeant\u2019s fate based on the evidence presented.<\/p>\n

Both the prosecution, from the Attorney General\u2019s office, and the defense agreed that the man Duran killed, Eric Duprey, was caught by Duran selling drugs in August 2023. The disagreement arises from what happened in the moments that followed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jan. 14 marked the first time an NYPD cop was placed on trial in a decade. Sergeant Erik Duran appeared in the Bronx Hall of Justice, located at 265 East 161 Street, wearing a blue suit and accompanied by several of his colleagues. In the coming days a judge, not a jury, will decide his fate based on the evidence presented.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

Angel Chiohh, of the Attorney General\u2019s office, made a long opening statement on Jan. 14, telling Judge Guy Mitchell that Duran quite literally threw caution to the wind that summer\u2019s day when he allegedly hurled the cooler at the 30-year-old Duprey, out of apparent frustration for a drug bust gone awry.<\/p>\n

According to Chiohh, police had arrested the wrong man and Duprey attempted to make his escape on a motorized scooter. That\u2019s when Duran allegedly lifted a nearby cooler and chucked it at Duprey.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake about it, it wasn\u2019t an accident, because the act of picking up a loaded cooler requires a lot of strength, and the subsequent act of heaving that cooler at somebody\u2019s head with such force that it knocks them off a scooter, crashing into the street and dying, requires a lot of force,\u201d Chiohh stressed. \u201cThe defendant intended to cause Mr. Duprey serious physical injury that day, and he killed Mr. Dupery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiohh also went on to charge that the prosecution will be producing a video that will show that Dupery swerved off the road and hit a car with such force that it \u201cviolently\u201d shook, and when he struck the ground, his brain matter was left spilled on the concrete.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Dupery had severe head trauma, multiple skull fractures to the head and face, bleeding in his brain, his injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma, and it was not an injury that someone should survive,\u201d Chiohh added.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s defense attorney, Andrew Quinn, presented a significantly different narrative. Quinn cited his client as a selfless hero who put his body in the way to prevent Duprey from mowing down pedestrians on the sidewalk and turned to the cooler so he didn\u2019t open fire in a busy street.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a choice: Jump out of the way, save himself \u2014 whatever happens to the guys behind me is not my fault, or take action,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cThe only thing available to him, because there was a table next to him, was a cooler. He hadn\u2019t touched it before, he\u2019d never seen it before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Jan. 14 marked the first time an NYPD cop was placed on trial in a decade. Sergeant Erik Duran appeared in the Bronx Hall of Justice, located at 265 East 161 Street, wearing a blue suit and accompanied by several of his colleagues. In the coming days a judge, not a jury, will decide his fate based on the evidence presented.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

Quinn went on to allege that the act of throwing the cooler was not about ensuring that Dupery did not escape \u2014 police already had his information, the attorney said \u2014 it was about preventing loss of life from Dupery\u2019s scooter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of the cooler is irrelevant. That\u2019s not the issue. The issue isn\u2019t that he used a cooler; the issue is whether he was justified in using the force,\u201d Quinn asked. \u201cMy client used force to protect lives. That is what we ask our police officers to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testimony begins<\/p>\n

Dupery\u2019s mother, Gretchen Soto, was the first witness called to the stand. The distraught mother wept as she was asked about the moment she learned of her son\u2019s fate. She was also asked about the moment she viewed postmortem photos of Dupery, describing them in one word: \u201cHorrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, a former cop from the 52nd Precinct who was on patrol and responded to the incident was called to the stand. Brandon Piehler, now with Greenburgh police, was quizzed by both sides about what he saw that day, and even showed his body camera footage.<\/p>\n

\"\"Next a former cop from the 52 Pct who was on patrol and responded to the incident was called to the stand. Brandon Piehler, now with Greenburgh police, was quizzed by both sides about what he saw that day, and even showed his body camera footage.Photo by Dean Moses \"\"The video played in court appeared to show Duprey lying on the ground surrounded by plainclothes officers several feet from the trashed scooter.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n

The video played in court appeared to show Duprey lying on the ground surrounded by plainclothes officers several feet from the trashed scooter. The defense attempted to use nearby picnickers on scene as proof that Duran looked to defend pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the prosecution attempted to use the footage to highlight the ice, drinks, and other debris left behind by the hurled cooler.\n<\/p>\n

Another witness, a former EMT, shared that when she asked the cops on scene what took place after her arrival, she was told that Duprey had simply been attempting to evade police when he collided with the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"\"Another witness, a former EMT, shared that when she asked the cops on scene what took place after her arrival, she was told that Duprey had simply been attempting to evade police when he collided with the vehicle.Photo by Dean Moses
\nCalls for justice outside<\/p>\n

A group of protesters created a picket line outside of the proceedings. Holding signs and chanting, dubbing Duran the \u201ccooler killer,\u201d they demanded that the Sergeant be found guilty. While the defense and prosecution did not differ on Duprey\u2019s drug affiliation, Black Lives Matter Greater New York founder Hawk Newsome argued that Duprey will never get the opportunity to face a judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn America, you\u2019re innocent until proven guilty, but we will never know if he was guilty of that sale, because the police killed him before he could face trial,\u201d Newsome said. \u201cYou should have fallen back on your training. Nothing in your training quote, unquote, says to pick up a cooler and hurl it into someone\u2019s head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duprey\u2019s mother and wife, Orlyanis Velez, joined activists following the first day of trial.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss my son, I am in pain, and I just want justice for my son,\u201d Soto said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bench trial for NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran, accused of murdering a man by throwing a cooler at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[46108,128,46109,46110,46111,9,24,63,46112,46113,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-100576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-52-precicnt","tag-bronx","tag-bronx-hall-of-justice","tag-cooler-killer","tag-eric-duprey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-police-involved","tag-sergeant-erik-duran","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100576","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=100576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}