{"id":186889,"date":"2026-04-06T09:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/186889\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:20:09","slug":"nearly-11000-cops-petition-for-no-prison-time-for-cooler-cop-nypd-sgt-erik-duran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/186889\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 11,000 cops petition for no prison time for ‘cooler cop’ NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 11,000 law enforcement officers from across the globe have signed a petition asking a Bronx judge not to throw the NYPD sergeant convicted of killing a fleeing suspect by hurling a cooler<\/a> at him in prison, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Sgt. Erik Duran will be presenting the signatures<\/a> to Judge Guy Mitchell, who is handling the case, on Monday.<\/p>\n

Duran, who was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.<\/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

The petition asks for a \u201cnonincarceration sentence\u201d for Duran.<\/p>\n

Duprey was fleeing a drug bust at Aqueduct Ave. near W. 192nd St. in Kingsbridge Heights on Aug. 23, 2023, when Duran lifted the cooler loaded with ice and drinks<\/a> and, using both hands, hurled it at the suspect.<\/p>\n

Duprey, who wasn\u2019t wearing a helmet, lost control, sideswiped a tree, and was thrown off the scooter. 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, 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

In the petition, officers said Duran shouldn\u2019t be punished for making a split-second decision cops are forced to make every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe job of protecting the public from criminals is inherently dangerous, and carries with it unforeseen risks. As law enforcement officers, we cannot be expected to effectively do our jobs while knowing that a good-faith decision made in a rapidly evolving situation might cost us our freedom,\u201d the petition says. \u201cThat possibility is worsened by the fact that the career criminals we risk our lives and safety to apprehend often never see the inside of a prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran is facing between five and 15 years in prison. He\u2019s already been fired by the NYPD.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice secure the scene on Aqueduct Ave. at W. 190th St. in the Bronx on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Duprey family has waited a long time for accountability,\u201d attorney Jonathan Roberts, who is representing Duprey\u2019s family, said in a statement to the Daily News, adding: \u201cThe family asks only that the sentence reflect the gravity of what was done. The justice system is supposed to protect all New Yorkers. It should treat the loss of Eric\u2019s life with the seriousness that it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

An email to the state attorney general\u2019s office, which prosecuted Duran, was not immediately returned,<\/p>\n

Following the conviction in February, Roberts said the verdict \u201cvalidates the family\u2019s longstanding position that this tragedy stemmed from an unjustified and dangerous choice made by a police officer in a nonviolent situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 7,000 NYPD officers signed the petition. Other signatories included federal law enforcement, cops from Chicago, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Orlando, Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta. Cops from Scotland Yard and the Ottawa Police Service also signed.<\/p>\n

Before his conviction, Duran was an active cop with more than 50 illegal firearm arrests, the petition noted.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Sgt. Erik Duran (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cStripping him of his freedom will send a message to every single police officer throughout the country,\u201d Vincent Vallelong, the president of the NYPD\u2019s Sergeant\u2019s Benevolent Association<\/a>, which put together the petition, told The News. \u201cHe did his job. He did the same thing every police officer would do in that situation. After this, every cop is going to be worried if their next decision is going to cost them their freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe grew up in these neighborhoods,\u201d Vallelong said of Duran. \u201cHe\u2019s the one you want patrolling these neighborhoods. It\u2019s a shame the kid died, but he put himself in that situation. He wasn\u2019t an innocent victim.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s trial, Vallelong said, \u201cresulted in an unjust conviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat in that courtroom and don\u2019t get how the judge rendered this decision,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople out there know that (Duran) did the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the bench trial, prosecutors argued that using two hands to lift the heavy cooler showed that Duran knew how dangerous striking the suspect with the weighty object could be. Duran, for his part, testified that the cooler \u201cwasn\u2019t heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran testified that he was trying to protect other police officers when he hurled the red-and-white cooler at Duprey during a buy-and-bust operation.<\/p>\n

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

Duran 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 11,000 law enforcement officers from across the globe have signed a petition asking a Bronx judge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186890,"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-186889","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\/186889","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=186889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}