{"id":125753,"date":"2026-02-06T23:18:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/125753\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T23:18:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:18:32","slug":"nypd-sergeant-convicted-of-manslaughter-for-death-of-suspect-he-struck-with-cooler-in-bronx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/125753\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD sergeant convicted of manslaughter for death of suspect he struck with cooler in Bronx"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 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

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

\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

_____<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 An NYPD sergeant who killed a fleeing suspect by hurling a cooler that struck the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,54565,46111,53568,54519,54564,398,9,24,63,103,8818,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-125753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-deborah-danner","10":"tag-eric-duprey","11":"tag-erik-duran","12":"tag-guy-mitchell","13":"tag-justice-mitchell","14":"tag-letitia-james","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nypd","19":"tag-suspect","20":"tag-the-bronx","21":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","22":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125753","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=125753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}