{"id":126003,"date":"2026-02-07T04:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/126003\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T04:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:13:14","slug":"new-york-city-police-officer-convicted-in-cooler-throwing-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/126003\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City police officer convicted in cooler throwing death"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A New York City police officer was convicted Friday of second-degree manslaughter after he tossed a picnic cooler<\/a> filled with drinks at a fleeing suspect, causing the man to fatally crash his motorized scooter. <\/p>\n

Judge Guy Mitchell handed down the guilty verdict Friday in Bronx criminal court in the case against Sgt. Erik Duran in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the defendant is a police officer has no bearing,\u201d the judge said before reading out his verdict in a brief hearing. \u201cHe\u2019s a person and will be treated as any other defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of Duprey\u2019s family sobbed as the decision was read out. Orlyanis Velez, Duprey\u2019s wife, said after that she was happy but also surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was waiting for justice just like everybody, but when the moment happens, you can\u2019t believe it\u2019s happening,\u201d she said outside of the courthouse. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of time. These people been killing citizens, been killing everybody. They don\u2019t give no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran didn\u2019t appear to react when the decision was handed down, and his lawyer and spokespersons for his police union didn\u2019t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Duran had been suspended with pay pending the trial, but the department confirmed Friday he was dismissed following his conviction, as state law mandates. Duran now faces up to 15 years in prison when he\u2019s sentenced March 19. <\/p>\n

State Attorney General Letitia James, whose office prosecuted the case, offered her condolences to Duprey\u2019s family. <\/p>\n

\u201cThough it cannot return Eric to his loved ones, today\u2019s decision gives justice to his memory,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The 38-year-old Duran, who was the first New York Police Department officer in years to be tried for killing someone while on duty, also faced charges of criminally negligent homicide and assault.<\/p>\n

But Mitchell dismissed the assault count earlier, saying prosecutors failed to show he intended to hurt Duprey. He also didn\u2019t deliver a verdict on the criminally negligent homicide charge as he\u2019d already found Duran guilty of the more serious manslaughter charge. <\/p>\n

Duran had pleaded not guilty and opted for a bench trial, meaning the judge, not a jury, would render the verdict.<\/p>\n

Authorities say that on Aug. 23, 2023, Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer in the Bronx and then fled. <\/p>\n

Duran, who had been part of a narcotics unit conducting the operation, is seen in security footage<\/a> grabbing a nearby red cooler and quickly hurling it at Duprey in an attempt to stop him.<\/p>\n

The container full of ice, water and sodas struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement before landing under a parked car. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the 30-year-old, who was not wearing a helmet, sustained fatal head injuries<\/a> and died almost instantaneously. <\/p>\n

Duran, testifying in his own defense<\/a> this week, said he only had seconds to react and was trying to protect other officers from Duprey as he sped toward them. He told the court he immediately tried to render aid after seeing the extent of Duprey\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was gonna crash into us,\u201d Duran said in court. \u201cI didn\u2019t have time. All I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions. That\u2019s all I had the time to think of.\u201d<\/p>\n

But prosecutors maintained Duprey didn\u2019t pose a threat and that his death wasn\u2019t accidental but the result of Duran\u2019s reckless, negligent and intentional actions. <\/p>\n

They suggested the officer had enough time to warn others to move, but instead tossed the cooler in anger and frustration.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Philip Marcelo at https:\/\/x.com\/philmarcelo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A New York City police officer was convicted Friday of second-degree manslaughter after he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[128,419,303,3423,46111,53568,417,54519,1027,415,8041,398,9,24,55,54,56,11506,4722,48202,421],"class_list":{"0":"post-126003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-domestic-news","12":"tag-eric-duprey","13":"tag-erik-duran","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-guy-mitchell","16":"tag-homicide","17":"tag-indictments","18":"tag-law-enforcement","19":"tag-letitia-james","20":"tag-new-york","21":"tag-new-york-city","22":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","23":"tag-new-york-city-news","24":"tag-ny","25":"tag-philip-marcelo","26":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","27":"tag-send-to-apple-news","28":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126003","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=126003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}