{"id":192839,"date":"2026-04-10T23:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192839\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T23:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:26:15","slug":"nyc-cooler-cop-erik-duran-mounts-longshot-bid-for-freedom-pending-appeal-as-lonely-life-behind-bars-at-rikers-is-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192839\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC ‘cooler cop’ Erik Duran mounts longshot bid for freedom pending appeal — as lonely life behind bars at Rikers is revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for the ex-NYPD cop who fatally tossed a picnic cooler at a drug suspect are mounting a longshot bid<\/a> to free him as he appeals his manslaughter conviction \u2014 and languishes in isolation behind bars.<\/p>\n

Former police Sgt. and married dad of three Erik Duran, 38, is currently in protective custody away from other inmates on Rikers Island after he was sentenced Thursday to up to nine years in prison for the 2023 death of Eric Duprey, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Friday.<\/p>\n

Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran is currently being held at Rikers Island. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

Duran has access to a television, a small outdoor yard and shower \u2014 but little else, including contact with other inmates for his own safety, according to sources. <\/p>\n

Food is being brought to him at the dangerous jail. He is expected to be transferred at some point to a state prison, where he will serve his term of three to nine years \u2014 a sentence that experts and cops have ripped as \u201cextreme and damaging\u201d to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

But Duran\u2019s legal team is trying to convince an appellate court to release the convicted cop from custody as the former officer fights to have his conviction overturned in the controversial case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be arguing that when all facts are heard, you will see that the judge\u2019s decision was an error and against the weight of the evidence,\u201d one of his lawyers, Arthur Aidala, told The Post of the motion filed Friday.<\/p>\n

Duran \u2014 who grew up in a violent Bronx neighborhood before becoming a \u201cmodel\u2019\u2019 cop \u2014 threw the cooler at Duprey as the suspect fled on a scooter during an undercover drug sting, causing him to fall and fatally hit his head.<\/p>\n

Eric Duprey was killed as he fled the undercover drug sting. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

Surveillance video obtained by the Post shows the incident that led to Duran\u2019s downfall. <\/p>\n

The former cop was slapped with the stiff prison sentence by Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell<\/a> after he was found guilty of manslaughter at a bench trial in February.<\/p>\n

Duran was hauled away immediately after Thursday\u2019s hearing, sparking his lawyers\u2019 desperate attempt to convince a higher court to allow him to be with his wife and kids as they work to get the Appellate Division First Department to review his case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barry Kamins, another lawyer for Duran, said the appeals court can choose to free the ex-cop on bail pending the appeal if it\u2019s believed he has a legitimate gripe with Judge Mitchell\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

But former Manhattan prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer Mark Bederow said the chances Duran is let out during the appeal process are \u201cprobably not good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s family members supported him in court. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

The cop\u2019s legal team needs to show the appeals court that there is a \u201clegitimate, credible chance\u201d that Duran\u2019s conviction would be scrapped on appeal \u2014 and that it\u2019s harder to overturn a guilty verdict when a judge \u2013 and not a jury \u2013 makes the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be hard, but I guess you\u2019ll see when the motion is filed, because they are going to have to lay out what they think the credible basis for appeal is to have any shot,\u201d Bederow told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be, \u2018He\u2019s a police officer, feel sorry for him,\u2019 \u201d the legal eagle said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Priscilla DeGregory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers for the ex-NYPD cop who fatally tossed a picnic cooler at a drug suspect are mounting a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[77148,13595,57,9,56,63,65,64,103,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-192839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-appeals","9":"tag-convictions","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-nypd","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192839","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=192839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}