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Ex-NYPD Sergeant Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years for Fatal Cooler Throw

The ruling underscores a rare on-duty conviction that tests New York’s push for police accountability.

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FILE - Gretchen Soto, the mother of Eric Duprey, speaks outside the Bronx Criminal Court in New York, Feb. 6, 2026, after New York police officer Erik Duran was convicted of manslaughter after he tossed a picnic cooler filled with drinks at a fleeing Duprey, causing him to fatally crash his motorized scooter. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)
FILE - New York police officer Erik Duran, who is charged with hurling a plastic cooler at a man fleeing officers on a motorized scooter, causing a crash that killed the driver, arrives to his manslaughter trial at the Bronx Criminal Court in New York, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)
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Overview

  • Justice Guy Mitchell sentenced Erik Duran on Thursday to three to nine years in prison and ordered him into custody after denying a one-week stay as his lawyer announced an appeal.
  • Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Duran throwing a bystander’s cooler at 30-year-old Eric Duprey as he fled on a motorized scooter in August 2023, causing a crash and fatal head injuries.
  • Duran was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in a February bench trial brought by the New York Attorney General’s office, and the NYPD dismissed him after the verdict as required by state law.
  • The judge said Duran acted with poor judgment, noted that suspects can be caught later, and said a prison term could deter similar conduct by officers.
  • Reaction split sharply as Black Lives Matter Greater New York urged the maximum 15-year term, while more than 11,000 officers signed a Sergeants Benevolent Association petition asking for no jail time.