{"id":101805,"date":"2026-01-16T00:29:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/101805\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T00:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:29:36","slug":"cooler-fatally-thrown-at-fleeing-bronx-drug-suspect-was-filled-with-juice-ice-witness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/101805\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooler fatally thrown at fleeing Bronx drug suspect was filled with juice, ice: witness"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cooler used by a cop to knock a fleeing drug suspect off his scooter<\/a> in the Bronx before he crashed and died was filled with juice and ice for kids having a picnic, the cooler\u2019s owner said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The cooler that Sgt. Erik Duran used in a desperate effort to subdue Eric Duprey, 30<\/a>, was heavy enough that the undercover cop needed both hands to lift it and toss it at the fleeing suspect, a witness testified during Duran\u2019s trial on manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Sgt. Erik Duran, who allegedly killed a fleeing suspect by striking him with a cooler as he sped away on a scooter in the Bronx, is pictured on the first day of his manslaughter trial in the Bronx on Wednesday, Jan. 14. 2026. (Dean Moses \/ amNY \/ Pool)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was water, juice and soda. It was for the kids,\u201d the woman said in Spanish, through an interpreter. \u201cIt was full.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the officer who threw the cooler looked very agitated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw him pick up the cooler, I saw that he was angry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also testified that, after heaving the cooler at the fleeing suspect, the cop came over to her picnic table and told her, \u201cPick up your things and leave, it was an accident\u201d \u2014 telling her twice that it was an \u201caccident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cops were running a buy-and-bust operation at Aqueduct Ave. near W. 192nd St. in Kingsbridge Heights when they nabbed the wrong guy, and Duprey took off, officials said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Duprey had eluded several officers before Duran used both hands to grab a red-and-white cooler filled with beverages and ice, and hurled it at Duprey\u2019s head.<\/a><\/p>\n

cop cooler nyc scooter fatal crash<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/p>\n

Obtained by Daily News<\/p>\n

Eric Duprey (pictured), a scooter-riding suspect fleeing a Bronx buy-and-bust drug sting, died Aug. 23, 2023, after an NYPD sergeant grabbed a cooler from a nearby family get-together and hurled it at the man, knocking him to the ground.<\/p>\n

Duprey, who wasn\u2019t wearing a helmet, lost control, sideswiped a tree and was thrown off the scooter, officials said. He struck his head on the curb and landed under a parked vehicle.<\/p>\n

He died at the scene.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s lawyers said the veteran cop, 38, saved people on the street and sidewalk from a reckless rider.<\/p>\n

Cops said Duprey, a delivery driver, was buying drugs. His family said he fled the scene because his scooter was not registered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so mad and sad at the same time,\u201d said the victim\u2019s wife, Pearl Velez. \u201cI\u2019m not happy to be in this place going through this, but I believe in justice.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cooler used by a cop to knock a fleeing drug suspect off his scooter in the Bronx…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-101805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-county","11":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-county","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-crime","20":"tag-sub-county-region","21":"tag-the-bronx","22":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","23":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101805","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=101805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}