{"id":201369,"date":"2026-04-17T23:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201369\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T23:46:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:46:38","slug":"ex-nypd-cooler-cop-erik-duran-to-be-freed-on-300k-bail-as-he-appeals-manslaughter-rap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201369\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-NYPD ‘cooler cop’ Erik Duran to be freed on $300K bail as he appeals manslaughter rap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran will be\u00a0released from prison\u00a0as he fights his manslaughter conviction for\u00a0fatally flinging a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Duran, 38, was granted $300,000 bail by a state appeals court judge in a Friday ruling, leaving his family \u201cecstatic\u201d at the prospect of having him home soon, said his former union head.<\/p>\n

The married father of three has been behind bars since April 9, when\u00a0Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell\u00a0sentenced him to at least three years<\/a>\u00a0in state prison.<\/p>\n

Ex-NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran won his appeal Friday to get released from prison while his legal team works to overturn his manslaughter conviction for fatally chucking a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should have never been in there to begin with,\u201d said Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong.<\/p>\n

The Bronx native, a 13-year veteran of the NYPD, was charged by the state Attorney General\u2019s Office after he\u00a0threw a full Igloo cooler at 30-year-old Eric Duprey\u00a0during an undercover drug sting in August 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics<\/a><\/p>\n

Duprey was trying to flee arrest on a moped when he was hit by the red cooler, causing him to crash and leaving him with fatal head injuries,\u00a0authorities have said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mitchell found Duran guilty of manslaughter following a non-jury trial in February.\u00a0The judge then hit him with a prison term of 3-to-9 years, calling it a \u201cgeneral deterrent\u201d to other police officers \u2014 and stoking a firestorm among law enforcement supporters.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s lawyers immediately filed\u00a0a Hail Mary bid<\/a>\u00a0to get the ex-cop,\u00a0who the NYPD fired upon his conviction,\u00a0freed from lockup as they attempt to get the conviction, and ensuing sentence, overturned.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t know which way this was gonna go because the thought of what the justice system did to him before, you didn\u2019t know what was gonna happen,\u201d Vallelong told The Post.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how long it will take for Duran to be freed from prison, but the court ruling said his bail will need to be posted within five days and one of his lawyers, Andrew Quinn, said he was unlikely to be released as early as Friday.<\/p>\n

He will also need to give up his passport\u00a0along with ponying up the bail in cash or bond, according to the decision from Judge Saliann Scarpulla, of New York\u2019s First Judicial Department, Appellate Division.<\/p>\n

A screenshot of the video captured at the scene of the incident. TOMAS E. GASTON<\/p>\n

Another of Duran\u2019s lawyers, Arthur Aidala, said the \u201crare\u201d ruling showed Scarpulla believed there were legitimate issues that could play in Duran\u2019s favor in getting his conviction overturned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obvious to the court that he is not a flight risk nor a danger to the community and was entitled to be at home with his family during pendency of the appeal,\u201d Aidala added.<\/p>\n

Vallelong said he spoke to Duran\u2019s wife and the ex-cop\u2019s family can\u2019t wait to get him home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no words to describe how happy they are and that\u2019s what this is all about,\u201d he said, adding Duran\u2019s loved ones were \u201cecstatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran has been locked up at Elmira Correctional Facility since Monday, according to jail records, after he spent a short stint in a Rikers Island jail cell following Mitchell\u2019s controversial sentencing decision.<\/p>\n

Duprey was trying to flee arrest on a moped when he was hit by the red cooler Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

The former cop claimed during his trial that he threw the cooler at Duprey because other officers\u2019 lives were in danger.<\/p>\n

But Mitchell determined that Duran only wanted to take Duprey into custody during the chaotic scene on Aug. 23, 2023, and that he should not have used lethal force.<\/p>\n

Mitchell also refused to allow Duran to remain out on bail pending his appeal after his sentence was handed down, and the former cop was hauled off to prison right away.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s Office declined to comment on the latest legal twist, but its prosecutors had argued against the baill request, the judge\u2019s ruling shows.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for the Duprey family said\u00a0the father of two\u2019s loved ones were \u201cprofoundly disappointed\u201d by the court\u2019s decision to let Duran out of prison. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cAlthough we acknowledge and respect the legal process, this ruling brings renewed pain to a family already grappling with a significant loss,\u201d said attorney Jon Roberts in an email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir priority remains holding those responsible accountable and ensuring the gravity of the situation is fully recognized. We will continue to support the Duprey family as the case moves forward, with confidence that the justice system will ultimately deliver a fair outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said Friday it needed to receive certain paperwork pertaining to the ruling before moving forward with the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the official order is received, the Department will review it and take any action required in accordance with the court\u2019s directive,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Duran was granted $300,000 bail by an appellate court. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if Duran would need to appear in a Bronx court before he is released on bail pending his battle to convince a higher court to toss his conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the focus is on this appeal, getting this behind Erik,\u201d said Vallelong. \u201cI\u2019m so glad that this turned out the way that it did as of right now. Now the next step is to make sure that the appeals process goes the right way and we win it on appeal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sergeants\u2019 union has been working with the National Police Defense Foundation to raise money for his appeal, including from a fundraiser\u00a0that was hosted by the New York Islanders<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s immigrant mother, who came to New York from Ecuador in 1981,\u00a0told The Post in a statement this week<\/a>\u00a0that her son\u2019s legal trouble turned her family\u2019s American dream into a horrible nightmare.<\/p>\n

Aidala said Duran\u2019s legal team will argue in its appeal that testimony and video of the fatal encounter showed the ex-cop wasn\u2019t acting recklessly and that Mitchell reached the wrong verdict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have a robust written appeal and a robust oral argument saying that under the circumstances Sgt. Duran did the right thing, was not reckless and the case should be thrown out,\u201d Aidala told The Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran will be\u00a0released from prison\u00a0as he fights his manslaughter conviction for\u00a0fatally flinging a picnic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[3283,4190,128,6070,57,9,24,63,103,129,131,130,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-201369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-arrests","9":"tag-bail","10":"tag-bronx","11":"tag-manslaughter","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nypd","17":"tag-the-bronx","18":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","19":"tag-the-bronx-news","20":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201369","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=201369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}