Erik Duran, the NYPD sergeant accused of throwing a cooler at a man during a drug bust and killing him, unnecessarily used force to salvage an arrest gone wrong, the state attorney general’s office argued during opening statements at his trial in the Bronx on Wednesday.
Attorney General’s Investigative Counsel Angel Chiohh said Duran was “flustered” because the operation “wasn’t going according to plan.” She said the sergeant grabbed a heavy cooler, filled nearly to the brim with drinks, and recklessly threw it at Eric Duprey, causing his death.
“Mr. Duprey was not a threat to life,” Chiohh said. “No one was in danger of dying that day. No one should have died that day.”
Duran is the first NYPD officer to stand trial for killing someone on duty since a 2021 law requiring the attorney general’s office to investigate killings by law enforcement went into effect, a spokesperson for the office said. Duran has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault in Duprey’s death. Bronx Justice Guy Mitchell will decide the outcome of the trial, rather than a jury.
Duran’s defense attorney Andrew Quinn argued in his opening statement that Duran was, in fact, afraid for his life. He said Duprey was riding a motorcycle on the sidewalk at 30 mph and was about to crash into Duran and others.
“Erik Duran was given two-and-a-half seconds to make a life or death decision, and that was because of Eric Duprey’s decisions,” Quinn said.
On Aug. 23, 2023, Duran was working with fellow Bronx narcotics detectives to conduct undercover drug purchases and arrest sellers, Chiohh said in her opening statement. The group had already made several arrests at three different locations when they decided to continue their operation at a new spot on Aqueduct Avenue, she said.
Officers were trying to arrest another man when Duprey got on a motorized scooter and fled, first on the street and then on the sidewalk, according to the attorney general’s office. Chiohh said the officers then realized they were arresting the wrong person and tried to stop Duprey. As Duprey attempted to get away, she said, Duran grabbed a nearby cooler and heaved it at him, hitting him in the head and leading him to lose control of the scooter.
Duprey hit a tree, fell off the bike, cracked his head open and died “almost instantaneously,” the prosecutor said, adding that first responders found pieces of his brain matter splattered around him.
Chiohh said Duran “chose violence when violence wasn’t necessary” and was not justified in using deadly force.
“The defendant wasn’t scared for his life or the lives of anyone else,” she said. “He did what he did not to save lives, not because he was scared, but to save an arrest.”
Quinn said his client did what “all good cops” do and “stepped toward the danger” to preserve life.
“We don’t teach officers to throw coolers, but when that is the only way to save a life, that is what they should do,” Quinn said.
Throughout the opening statements, an expressionless Duran looked ahead. His relatives and supporters filled the seats behind him, while members of Duprey’s family and the public packed the other side of the courtroom.
Surveillance video captured the fatal encounter. The NYPD suspended Duran without pay after the incident and later placed him on modified duty, according to the attorney general’s office.
