{"id":191439,"date":"2026-04-09T22:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191439\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:13:08","slug":"nyc-judge-claims-prison-sentence-for-cooler-cop-will-serve-as-deterrent-to-other-police-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191439\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC judge claims prison sentence for ‘cooler cop’ will serve as ‘deterrent’ to other police officers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bronx judge who sent an ex-NYPD sergeant\u00a0to prison Thursday<\/a>\u00a0for fatally flinging a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect claimed the punishment would serve as a \u201cgeneral deterrent\u201d for other police officers.<\/p>\n

Judge Guy Mitchell justified the sentence of 3-to-9 years behind bars for former Sgt. Erik Duran, 38, by arguing, in part, that the decision would send a message \u2014 even as police and legal experts ripped it as \u201cextreme and damaging\u201d for law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The judge also rejected Duran\u2019s testimony that throwing the\u00a0cooler at scooter-riding Eric Duprey, 30,<\/a>\u00a0during the August 2023 undercover drug sting had been justified.<\/p>\n

Ex-NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran was sentenced to nine years for fatally flinging a picnic cooler a fleeing drug suspect in August 2023. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had enough to investigate and catch him on a different day,\u201d he said of the suspect.<\/p>\n

Duran and his legal team, along with thousands of officers, had called on Mitchell not to impose a prison sentence after the judge found the since-fired cop\u00a0guilty of manslaughter in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mitchell conceded that Duran \u2014 who issued an emotional apology to Duprey\u2019s family and\u00a0pleaded with the judge for mercy<\/a>\u00a0at Thursday\u2019s hearing \u2014 was \u201cextremely remorseful\u201d and would not find himself in criminal trouble again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe distinction is that the deceased will no longer be seen again by his family,\u201d he said from the bench.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Duprey, a father of two, were euphoric, with one activist shouting, \u201cNo one is above the law!\u201d as the sentence was handed down.<\/p>\n

Judge Guy Mitchell claimed that Duran\u2019s sentence is a \u201cgeneral deterrent\u201d to other cops. Tomas E. Gaston for NY Post<\/p>\n

The decision by Mitchell, whom Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed in 2015 and Mayor Eric Adams reappointed in 2022, sparked furor from law enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge miscarriage of justice,\u201d former NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly told The Post, adding that he believed Duprey, who served the city for 13 years, had been treated too harshly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a reflex response that virtually every cop would act in a similar situation given the same circumstances,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

Sergeants Benevolent Association President\u00a0Vincent Vallelong said the sentence sent a \u201cchilling message to every cop in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, a former prosecutor turned judge, faced backlash for\u00a0another controversial decision in 2018<\/a>\u00a0when he sentenced a teenager to nine months in prison for\u00a0fatally beating a homeless man in Manhattan the previous year.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors had pleaded that\u00a0Mitchell, then serving in Manhattan court, lock up\u00a019-year-old Branlee Gonzalez for at least 10 years, arguing he\u00a0was a \u201cGorilla Stones\u201d gang member.\u00a0Victim Lucio Bravo\u2019s daughter\u00a0had also begged Mitchell to give her dad\u2019s killer hard time.<\/p>\n

Eric Duprey had sold an undercover officer $20 worth of cocaine before Duran hurled the cooler at him. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n

But\u00a0the teen\u2019s lawyer portrayed his client as a first-time offender who had a traumatic childhood, including being sexually abused by a family member \u2014 apparently convincing the judge to give him the wrist-slap.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez had pleaded guilty to attempted assault and\u00a0manslaughter \u2014 the same charge Mitchell found Duran guilty of following his bench trial in Bronx Supreme Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge\u00a0\u00a0had a wide range of sentencing options, from sending Duran to prison for up to 15 years to giving him a no-jail sentence of probation.<\/p>\n

The last officer to be convicted for an on-duty killing was Peter Liang, a rookie cop who in 2016\u00a0was found guilty of manslaughter\u00a0<\/a>for fatally shooting unarmed Akai Gurley in a darkened public housing stairwell.<\/p>\n

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Liang\u00a0was sentenced to five years of probation<\/a>\u00a0and 800 hours of community service by a Brooklyn judge.<\/p>\n

Rank-and-file cops were also outraged by Mitchell\u2019s decision in the Duran case,\u00a0with one Brooklyn detective calling\u00a0it \u201can injustice and a\u00a0travesty.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst for the sergeant and his family, but also for all cops who go out in the street to try and protect the public,\u201d said the detective, who noted Duran had to make a\u00a0\u201csplit\u00a0second decision\u201d during the fatal incident.<\/p>\n

Surveillance cameras showed Duran hurling a full Igloo cooler at the drug suspect at the scene. TOMAS E. GASTON<\/p>\n

A Brooklyn police supervisor insisted Duran \u201cshould have gotten a medal\u201d instead\u00a0of time in the clink.<\/p>\n

Lindsey Richards, a defense lawyer not involved in the case, called the sentence \u201cextreme and damaging for so many in law enforcement,\u201d arguing sending Duran to prison was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, officers need to be held responsible for misconduct,\u201d argued\u00a0Richards, a partner at Texas-based law firm\u00a0Cofer & Connelly. \u201cHowever, we have to keep in mind the situation they often find themselves in and how quickly they have to make decisions\u201d<\/p>\n

This case was throwing a cooler not firing a weapon. The outcome was an incredibly unfortunate death but does it rise to the level of sending an officer to prison? I don\u2019t believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Richards said the decision would likely stand on appeal because it was within the sentencing guidelines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Scola, a longtime attorney with many rank-and-file NYPD officers as clients, agreed, noting that \u201cbench trial convictions are tough to overturn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Carl Campanile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bronx judge who sent an ex-NYPD sergeant\u00a0to prison Thursday\u00a0for fatally flinging a picnic cooler at a fleeing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6070,57,9,56,63,65,64,103,4719,35426,129,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-191439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-manslaughter","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-nypd","16":"tag-prisons","17":"tag-sentences","18":"tag-the-bronx","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191439","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=191439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}