Erik Duran, who was sentenced on April 8<\/a> to three to nine years in prison for manslaughter, is expected to be released as early as this weekend, according to his attorney.<\/p>\n“This is a major win for Erik and his family and for law enforcement officers around the country,” Sergeants Benevolent Association president Vincent Vallelong wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n
The conviction stems from an August 2023 incident in the Bronx, when prosecutors say Duran threw a cooler at 30-year-old Eric Duprey as Duprey rode away on a moped during what police described as an undercover drug operation gone wrong. Duprey later died from his injuries.’<\/p>\n
Following a bench trial, Judge Guy Mitchell found Duran guilty and sentenced him on April 9.<\/p>\n
Duran\u2019s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said the defense is appealing the conviction, arguing the former officer did not act recklessly in the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 2.4 seconds that Duran had to analyze the scene, he did not act recklessly. He was not trying to hurt anybody,\u201d Aidala said.<\/p>\n
Aidala also argued Duran was attempting to protect civilians and fellow officers during the incident.<\/p>\n
After spending about a week behind bars, Duran will now be released on bail as the appeals process moves forward \u2014 a process his attorney says could take up to nine months.<\/p>\n
Support for Duran has drawn national attention. A fundraiser organized through the Sergeants Benevolent Association raised more than $300,000 for bail. The campaign was even promoted on the Jumbotron during a New York Islanders game.<\/p>\n
Aidala said Duran is \u201changing in there\u201d and relieved to have what he called \u201ca light at the end of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision to grant bail has sparked backlash from Duprey\u2019s family and community activists, who say they are frustrated and disappointed by the outcome.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Black Lives Matter called the decision an \u201cappalling miscarriage of justice,\u201d arguing it prioritizes a convicted officer over the community and undermines the jury\u2019s verdict.<\/p>\n
The group also pointed to what it describes as a double standard in the legal system, noting that many people on Rikers Island remain behind bars without convictions, while Duran is now free as he appeals.<\/p>\n
Advocates say they will continue pushing for accountability, adding that the ruling will not erase what they call a hard-fought victory for Duprey\u2019s family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former NYPD sergeant convicted of killing a Bronx man by throwing a cooler at him will soon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-201500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201500","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=201500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}