New York
A former New York City police sergeant was sentenced Thursday to three to 9 years in prison for tossing a picnic cooler filled with drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died.
The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey. The former sergeant stated he was attempting to defend different officers from the approaching scooter.
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“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash,” Duran instructed the courtroom Thursday, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the person’s accidents.
“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, addressing Duprey’s household immediately in Spanish {that a} courtroom interpreter translated.
Duprey’s mom, Gretchen Soto, wept because the ex-officer spoke. She had instructed the courtroom a half hour earlier: “There are no words to express what I feel.”
Judge Guy Mitchell stated he didn’t settle for the ex-sergeant’s protection that his actions had been justified.
“It is the court’s belief that the defendant, Sgt. Duran, was upset that Mr. Duprey was getting away” and reacted by hurling the cooler, Mitchell stated.
The case has animated police on one hand and accountability activists on the opposite. Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, says 1000’s of officers have signed a web based petition calling for him to be spared prison.
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Officers in New York Police Department jackets streamed down a Bronx courthouse hallway forward of the sentencing Thursday, whereas a few dozen protesters demonstrated exterior to demand justice for Duprey.
Prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ workplace sought a three-to-nine-year prison sentence for Duran, saying he recklessly prompted Duprey’s death.
“He did that while on duty,” then tried to cowl up his actions, prosecutor Joseph Bianco instructed the courtroom.
Duran and his attorneys had not but had their likelihood to communicate.
Duran was a part of a narcotics policing group that carried out a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on August 23, 2023. Police stated Duprey bought medicine to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.
Surveillance video confirmed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk towards a bunch of individuals. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn’t in uniform — picked up a bystander’s cooler and threw it.
The container filled with ice, water and sodas struck Duprey. He misplaced management of the scooter, slammed right into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey, 30, wasn’t sporting a helmet. He sustained deadly head accidents and died virtually immediately, in accordance to prosecutors.
They argued Duran had sufficient time to warn others to transfer however as an alternative hurled the cooler as a result of he was offended.
Duran, nonetheless, testified at his trial that he made a split-second resolution to maintain different officers protected from the scooter dashing towards them.
“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran stated then, including, “All I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.”
Duran opted to have Mitchell, not a jury, determine the case.
Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong has stated the conviction despatched “a terrible message to hard-working cops” concerning the prices of defending themselves and fellow officers.
Duran was an NYPD officer for 13 years earlier than he was suspended after the crash. He was dismissed from the power after his conviction this previous February.
Duprey labored as a supply driver and had three younger kids. His mom, Gretchen Soto, who stated she was on a video name with him proper earlier than he died, has disputed the police claims that he bought medicine and fled from officers.
She instructed the choose Thursday her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.”
“It is an unjust incident,” Soto stated by way of a Spanish interpreter. “As a mother, I have to miss him now every day.”
