{"id":125622,"date":"2026-02-06T21:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/125622\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T21:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:33:24","slug":"nypd-sgt-convicted-of-manslaughter-for-death-of-suspect-he-struck-with-cooler-in-bronx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/125622\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD sgt. convicted of manslaughter for death of suspect he struck with cooler in Bronx"},"content":{"rendered":"

An NYPD sergeant who killed a fleeing suspect by hurling a cooler<\/a> that struck the man as he rode past on a scooter was convicted of manslaughter on Friday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced.<\/p>\n

Bronx Justice Guy Mitchell found Sgt. Erik Duran guilty at a bench trial. He is the first NYPD officer to be taken to trial for killing a suspect since Hugh Barry was indicted for killing Deborah Danner<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n

The felony conviction is expected to result in Duran\u2019s termination from the force. The NYPD did not immediately confirm his firing.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Eric Duprey, 30, had eluded several officers before Duran used both hands to grab the cooler and hurl it at him. 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

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

\"EricEric Duprey (pictured), a scooter-riding suspect fleeing a Bronx buy-and-bust drug sting, was killed on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

Prosecutors suggested Duran had more time to think than he let on because he chose to pick up a heavy cooler with both hands instead of warning the other cops to get out of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t heavy,\u201d Duran said.<\/p>\n

Duran testified in his own defense Monday when he told Justice Mitchell that he was trying to protect other police officers when he hurled the red-and-white cooler filled with beverages and ice<\/a> at Duprey, a drug suspect, during a buy-and-bust operation in Kingsbridge Heights.<\/p>\n

Duran said he quickly shifted from apprehension mode to trying to save a life.<\/p>\n

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

\"EricEric Duprey, a scooter-riding suspect fleeing a Bronx buy-and-bust drug sting, died after being knocked to the ground when an NYPD cop threw a cooler (pictured) at him. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in shock. I was upset and I was just hoping that I was wrong about what I saw, his injuries,\u201d Duran said. \u201cI was hoping that somebody at some point would say, you know, he\u2019s OK, or for the ambulance to get there. I was just hoping that I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cops were running a buy-and-bust operation at Aqueduct Ave. near W. 192nd St. when they nabbed the wrong guy, and Duprey took off, officials said.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An NYPD sergeant who killed a fleeing suspect by hurling a cooler that struck the man as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125623,"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":["post-125622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","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\/125622","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=125622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}