Ex‑NYPD Sergeant Sentenced in Manslaughter Case After Cooler‑Throwing Incident

By John Annese and Thomas Tracy

Source New York Daily News

Sgt. Erik Duran, the “Cooler Cop” NYPD narcotics officer who killed a fleeing suspect by hurling a cooler at him following a Bronx buy-and-bust operation three years ago was sentenced to three to nine years in prison Thursday.

Duran, 38, was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in February following a Bronx Criminal Court non-jury trial in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey. He was fired by the NYPD upon his conviction.

A manslaughter conviction usually comes with a sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

After being caught on body-worn camera selling cocaine to an undercover officer, Duprey, 30, jumped on a motorbike and fled a drug bust at Aqueduct Ave. near W. 192nd St. in Kingsbridge Heights on Aug. 23, 2023.

He was speeding down the sidewalk, about to crash into a group of officers, when Duran, in an attempt to stop Duprey, lifted the cooler loaded with ice and drinks and, using both hands, hurled it at the suspect.

Duprey, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, lost control, sideswiped a tree, and was thrown off the scooter. He struck his head on the curb and landed under a parked vehicle.

On Monday, Duran’s attorneys delivered a petition of more than 11,000 signatures from law enforcement officials around the globe asking Judge Guy Mitchell to sentence the 16-year NYPD veteran to no time behind bars.

In response, Black Lives Matter activists on Tuesday demanded the maximum prison sentence for Duran and went on a tour of the offices of Bronx elected officials, including Borough President Venessa Gibson, to ask them to speak out.

The last NYPD officer to be convicted at trial in the death of a civilian was Peter Liang, who was found guilty in 2016 of manslaughter in the shooting death of Akai Gurley in Brooklyn. Liang was sentenced to probation.

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