{"id":191548,"date":"2026-04-09T23:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191548\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T23:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:57:11","slug":"ex-nypd-sergeant-jailed-for-fatal-cooler-toss-grew-up-in-violent-nyc-neighborhood-to-become-model-cop-before-downfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191548\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NYPD sergeant jailed for fatal cooler toss grew up in violent NYC neighborhood to become ‘model’ cop before downfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ex-NYPD sergeant sentenced to prison Thursday<\/a> for fatally chucking a cooler at a fleeing drug suspect grew up in a violent Bronx neighborhood to become a \u201cmodel\u201d cop before his sudden downfall.<\/p>\n

Former Sgt. Erik Duran \u201calways protected the vulnerable\u201d during his 15 years on the force, his lawyer said in court \u2013 but his career and life were thrown into disarray when he caused the death of Eric Duprey in August 2023.<\/a><\/p>\n

NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran standing in Queens Court during his sentencing. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI took this job to save lives,\u201d Duran, a married dad who received a prison term of 3-to-9 years, told the court. \u201cI felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash. I regret that this day ever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran, 38, said he grew up in a crime-plagued Bronx neighborhood, noting that when he was just 8 years old, a gunman walked into a restaurant and opened fire on his family.<\/p>\n

Several of his best childhood friends were \u201cswallowed up into gangs, into drugs, and I couldn\u2019t even recognize them anymore,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took that pain, and I harnessed it\u201d into becoming a cop,\u201d the Putnam County resident said, adding he was inspired to serve after he saw police race toward danger on Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask the court to not look at me as a regular cop,\u201d said the father of three who married his high school sweetheart in a Bronx courthouse down the block from the room where he was sentenced.<\/p>\n

Eric Duprey was loved by his family and is missed by his children. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

During his career, he\u2019s seen his lieutenant shot and was once bitten so hard it broke skin, he said. He also struggled with armed perps several times, but never used lethal force.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s lawyer, Andrew Quinn, said his client \u201cprotected women and children abused in their homes\u201d and took more than 50 guns off the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He called him a \u201cmodel cop\u201d who has led an \u201cexemplary\u201d life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The red Igloo cooler was used in the reckless incident. Tomas E. Gaston .. for NY Post<\/p>\n

Duran lost his job when Judge Guy Mitchell found him guilty of manslaughter in February for throwing the red Igloo cooler at Duprey as he fled from a drug sting on a Bronx sidewalk, causing the suspect to fall off and hit his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo man should be judged entirely for a decision he made in the blink of an eye,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n

While Duran and Duprey, 30, were counterparts the day of the fatal crash, the two had similarities, the judge noted.<\/p>\n

Both men were Hispanic and Bronx natives. They each have children.<\/p>\n

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

Duprey, a father of two, had at least a pair of past arrests on drug and assault charges, law enforcement sources said.<\/p>\n

His mother, Gretchen Soto, said through an interpreter in court she misses her child \u201cevery day,\u201d stressing he was \u201cwell-loved\u201d by his relatives and sister.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI miss him a lot,\u201d she said with Duprey\u2019s partner also in attendance. \u201cTo this day, his children miss him a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ex-NYPD sergeant sentenced to prison Thursday for fatally chucking a cooler at a fleeing drug suspect grew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[57,9,56,63,65,64,103,4719,3209,129,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-191548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-metro","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-ny","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-nyc-headlines","13":"tag-nyc-news","14":"tag-nypd","15":"tag-prisons","16":"tag-sentencing","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191548","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=191548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}