Trial begins for NYPD sergeant charged with killing man during botched arrest in Bronx
MELROSE, Bronx (WABC) -- The criminal trial of NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran, accused of tossing a cooler at a drug suspect as he fled arrest in the Bronx, killing him, began on Wednesday.
Duran was indicted on manslaughter charges in the Aug. 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey, a delivery worker suspected of drug dealing.
Duprey fled a drug arrest, speeding off on a scooter.
Duran grabbed a white plastic cooler and "forcefully threw" it at Duprey, striking him in the head. Duprey lost control of his scooter and crashed into a tree.
The sergeant has pleaded not guilty.
The victim's 49-year-old mother said, "it's very painful to see him and not have an answer to what he did or sorry, not even look me in the face."
She wore a pendant with her son's photo on a necklace. She stood alongside Duprey's widow and other family members, who were all in court for opening statements for a bench trial which will be prosecuted by the New York State Attorney General's Office. A judge, not a jury, will decide Duran's fate.
During opening statements, prosecutors say Duran "threw a loaded cooler at Mr. Dupree's head with such force it knocked him off scooter causing him to crash into the pavement split his head open and die almost instantaneously."
Still photos showed the first few minutes of body camera video played in court on Wednesday, from the first responding officer. Duran is seen in a green shirt, with Duprey on the ground and officers rendering aid.
The defense attorney countered in openings, telling the court the opposite, saying the "only thing available to him was a cooler," and that "he didn't know if it was full or empty but his thought was stop the threat."
Duran, who was suspended until the outcome of the trial, was supported in court by his large family.
The trial drew a crowd of nearly three dozen protestors in support of Duprey
"Nothing in your training says to pick up a cooler and hurling it into someone's head," said Hawk Newsome of Black Lives Matter. "You know who said that? The most pro cop mayor in the history of New York City, Eric Adams, said that."
Duran faces a maximum sentence of 25 years behind bars if he is convicted of manslaughter.
It is the first trial of an on-duty officer in a death in nearly a decade.
----------
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
