{"id":125360,"date":"2026-02-06T17:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/125360\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:47:09","slug":"cooler-killer-testifies-bronx-demands-justice-for-the-killing-of-eric-duprey-peoples-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/125360\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cooler Killer\u2019 testifies, Bronx demands justice for the killing of Eric Duprey \u2013 People’s World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018Cooler\t<\/p>\n

Tanesha Grant speaks to the press. Eric Duprey\u2019s sister watches from the left. | Jason Villarruel \/ Peoples World<\/p>\n

BRONX, N.Y.\u2014Community members gathered with the family of Eric Duprey as the trial of his killer, Erik Duran, entered its last day\u2014a possible \u201clight at the end of the tunnel\u201d for a long, arduous legal and political struggle to see Duprey\u2019s killer brought to justice.<\/p>\n

In August 2023, NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran threw a cooler filled with ice, water, and over a dozen soda cans directly at Duprey, who was trying to flee from a sting operation which the police department\u2019s narcotics unit botched. Duprey was on a moped, traveling at high speed down a sidewalk where Duran stood facing him.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, when Duran took the stand, he claimed that Duprey was not trying to escape but was instead trying to \u201cambush\u201d him and kill other detectives on the scene. Video footage shared in court showed Duprey indeed fleeing the scene but with ample time for Duran to move out of the way (as two other witnesses did).<\/p>\n

\"\"Eric Duprey<\/p>\n

Duran, who is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, is seen putting his entire body weight into hurling the filled cooler at Duprey, hitting Duprey off his moped, which crashed into a barricade. Duprey spun uncontrollably and headfirst toward the concrete under a parked car. His head was split open on impact, and he died on the scene.<\/p>\n

Tanesha Grant, executive director of Parents Supporting Parents New York, spoke at a press conference organized by Black Lives Matter-Greater New York about how mass incarceration is rooted in the history of chattel slavery of the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here every day, the family knows that we love them\u2026it\u2019s hard y\u2019all, it\u2019s very hard. We have known the injustice of this country when it comes to Black and brown people. Before we had video we had a mother named Mrs. Till who put it on display,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Grant was referring to the mother of Emmett Till, who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi\u00a0in 1955 at the age of 14 after being accused of offending a white woman. His mother, Mamie Till, opted for an open casket funeral to expose the brutal nature of her son\u2019s murder by two white men.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have pictures and postcards of our ancestors hanging from trees and their bodies still smoldering with American people\u2014men, women, and children, smiling. This has been happening\u2026. Eric should be here for one reason: This country should have been stopped allowing it\u2026. See, they make the laws, but they don\u2019t obey the law, and then they put \u2018Justice for All\u2019 on these bullshit buildings!\u201d<\/p>\n

The brutality of the NYPD in the Duprey case is not incidental. Just last year, Saniyah Cheatham died in a Bronx precinct after being held overnight following an alleged altercation at a 4th of July party. Kelly Bravo, a friend to Cheatham, spoke at the press conference, sharing Cheatham\u2019s story and connecting it to Duprey\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system is working as designed to kill people of color. I know this to be true in my personal life because I lost a friend to this racist system. My best friend, Saniyah Cheatham, was found dead in her cell hours after her arrest on July 4th last year,\u201d Bravo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same way these cops didn\u2019t care about Eric Duprey\u2019s life, they didn\u2019t care about Saniyah\u2019s life either. Saniyah should be here today. She should have seen her 19th birthday. She should have been able to continue her studies at Bronx Community College. She should have lived a long, happy life. But the 41st Precinct took her from me, from her family, and from her community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Kelly Bravo holds up a picture of Saniyah Cheathem, which reads: \u2018Saniyah World\u2026 Forever 18 #LLS\u2026 3\/6\/2007-7\/5\/2025.\u2019 | Jason Villarruel \/ Peoples World<\/p>\n

The 41st Precinct\u2019s record of events has long been questioned by the Cheatham family and their community. The NYPD Force Investigation Division is currently investigating the circumstances<\/a> of Cheatham\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The Bronx Times reports that the \u201ccity medical examiner\u2019s office ruled the death a suicide, and the New York Times cited<\/a> two unnamed sources who said Cheatham used her sweater to hang herself.\u201d The family contested that claim, saying that Cheatham was not wearing the sweater in question that day and that she was in high spirits just before being taken by the police.<\/p>\n

Bravo said Cheatham\u2019s death \u201cstill hits\u201d from time to time, yet she remains steadfast in her determination to see justice through. After her friend\u2019s death, Bravo began going to rallies and vigils for other extra-judicial killings around the city, most recently a vigil for Eudes Pierre<\/a>, who was fatally shot ten times by police in 2021 while he was experiencing a mental health crisis and approached officers with a knife.<\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James did not pursue charges against the officers involved, and the Civilian Complaint Review Board determined that they had acted \u201cwithin NYPD guidelines.\u201d Pierre\u2019s family, however, believes the situation could have turned out differently had mental health professionals been dispatched to the scene.<\/p>\n

A similar case this week, that of Jabez Chakraborty<\/a>, who was shot and killed in his home by Officer Tyree White of the 107th Precinct in Queens, is reviving demands<\/a> that police alone should not be responding to mental health crisis calls.<\/p>\n

Footage from a body cam worn by White shows Chakraborty grabbing a knife and coming toward the officers immediately after his mother opened the door allowing them to enter the home. The officers yelled at him to drop the knife and retreated behind the door, which Chakraborty attempts to open while still holding the knife. That\u2019s when White opened fire.<\/p>\n

Chakraborty is now hospitalized and \u201cfighting for his life on a ventilator,\u201d according<\/a> to New York City Councilmember Shanana Hatif.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently called on Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz not to press criminal charges against Chakraborty, saying, \u201cWhat Jabez needs is mental health treatment, not criminal prosecution by a district attorney,\u201d according to amNY<\/a>. Mamdani says the incident is further reason to \u201cexpedite\u201d the formation of a \u201cDepartment of Community Safety,\u201d his police reform proposal.<\/p>\n

Back at the press conference outside the Duran trial, Bravo continued, \u201cWe must hold these pigs accountable for the death they facilitate. We must destroy this racist system which ravages our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

She identified herself as a member of the New York Young Communist League and said the organization is pushing for the implementation of \u201cdirectly-elected civilian control boards\u2026 that would have the full and unconditional power over the policy, budget, hiring, and firing of police.\u201d<\/p>\n

The verdict for \u201cCooler Killer\u201d Erik Duran is expected Friday.<\/p>\n

We hope you appreciated this article. At\u00a0People\u2019s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading\u00a0People\u2019s World\u00a0and the stories we bring you, please\u00a0support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today<\/a>. Thank you!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCONTRIBUTOR<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jason<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tanesha Grant speaks to the press. Eric Duprey\u2019s sister watches from the left. | Jason Villarruel \/ Peoples…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,419,9,24,63,103,104,14508,54450,129,131,130,4107],"class_list":{"0":"post-125360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nypd","14":"tag-police","15":"tag-police-brutality","16":"tag-police-violence","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news","20":"tag-u-s"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125360","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=125360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}