An undercover New York Police Department sergeant was indicted Tuesday on a trio of serious charges related to the death of a fleeing suspect who was killed in a crash after the officer threw a cooler at his motorbike.
Erik Duran, 36, has been suspended on unpaid leave since the Aug. 23 incident, amid heated debate over whether he should be held criminally liable for the death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey.
Duran has been charged with manslaughter, assault, and criminally negligent homicide. If convicted on each charge, he could spend years in prison.
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As it became clear charges were coming, the Sergeants’ Benevolent Association grilled New York Attorney General Letitia James earlier this week, saying Duran was trying to protect the public when he hurled a plastic cooler at Duprey.
“Duran made a split-second decision that was predicated solely on his concern for the safety of others,” said SBA President Vincent Vallelong in a statement. “Now he has become the latest victim of a legal system that treats honest hard-working cops as criminals and criminals as victims.”
After he was hit with the cooler, The New York Times reported that surveillance video showed Duprey, a father of two, crash into a tree and a car before his bike toppled over and fell to the ground. AM New York Metro reported that the cooler thrown by Duran hit Duprey in the head.
The incident took place during a sting operation, in which an undercover cop had allegedly tricked Duprey into selling him drugs in the Bronx. Once the alleged transaction was done, officers swarmed Duprey to arrest him on narcotics charges, but police said he fled on a motorbike.
Moments later, the fatal cooler toss occurred, Duprey crashed, and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after. The local medical examiner ruled that Duprey’s death was the result of a homicide with blunt force trauma to his head.
Duran’s actions were quickly criticized by activist groups, the NYPD, and even Mayor Eric Adams, himself a former cop, who said last year, “We don’t throw coolers at fleeing suspects.”
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Duran, a 14-year veteran of the NYPD, used “excessive force” when he threw the cooler, which was so heavy it required two hands to toss it, ABC 7 reported.
An attorney for Duran countered that Duprey died because of his own actions, saying he’d still be alive had he not fled the scene, the station reported.
A judge on Tuesday set Duran’s bail at at $150,000. Duran, who was also ordered to surrender his passport, is due back in court on April 18.
