By Philip Marcelo
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A New York City police officer was convicted Friday of second-degree manslaughter after he tossed a picnic cooler filled with drinks at a fleeing suspect, causing the man to fatally crash his motorized scooter.
Judge Guy Mitchell handed down the guilty verdict Friday in Bronx criminal court in the case against Sgt. Erik Duran in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey.
“The fact that the defendant was a police officer makes no difference,” the judge said before reading out his verdict in a brief hearing. “He was treated as any other defendant.”
Duran didn’t appear to react when the decision was handed down, but members of Duprey’s family cried. He faces up to 15 years in prison and will be sentenced March 19.
The 38-year-old, who is the first New York Police Department officer in years to be tried for killing someone while on duty, also faced an assault charge. But Mitchell dismissed the count earlier, saying prosecutors failed to show he intended to hurt Duprey.
Duran had pleaded not guilty and opted for a bench trial, meaning the judge, not a jury, would render the verdict.
Authorities say that on Aug. 23, 2023, Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer in the Bronx and then fled.
Duran, who had been part of a narcotics unit conducting the operation, is seen in security footage grabbing a nearby red cooler and quickly hurling it at Duprey in an attempt to stop him.
The container full of ice, water and sodas struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement before landing under a parked car.
Prosecutors said the 30-year-old, who was not wearing a helmet, sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantaneously.
Duran, testifying in his own defense this week, said he only had seconds to react and was trying to protect other officers from Duprey as he sped towards them. He told the court he immediately tried to render aid after seeing the extent of Duprey’s injuries.
“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said in court. “I didn’t have time. All I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions. That’s all I had the time to think of.”
But prosecutors maintained Duprey didn’t pose a threat and that his death wasn’t accidental but the result of Duran’s reckless, negligent and intentional actions.
They suggested the officer had enough time to warn others to move, but instead tossed the cooler in anger and frustration.
Duprey was a Bronx resident and father of three who worked as a delivery driver. He had come to New York from Puerto Rico as a teen.
State Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which investigates civilian deaths during encounters with law enforcement, prosecuted the case.
Duran is currently suspended with pay pending the outcome of the trial, according to the police department.
