Convicted “cooler cop” Erik Duran’s bail was posted in a Bronx courthouse Monday morning with the former NYPD sergeant expected to be sprung from Elmira Correctional Facility this afternoon, according to sources.
The $300,000 bail was secured by bail bondsman to the stars Ira Judelson after an appeals court on Friday ruled that Duran could be out of prison while his legal team fights to overturn his manslaughter conviction for fatally throwing a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect.
Duran, a 13-year law enforcement veteran, has been behind bars since Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell gave him a controversial three- to nine-year prison sentence on April 9.
Duran, a married father of three, is expected to be released from the upstate prison by the afternoon, according to sources.
He was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in February by Mitchell in a non-jury trial after he failed to convince the judge that he was justified in throwing a cooler at 30-year-old Eric Duprey as the drug suspect fled on a motorbike from an undercover drug sting on Aug. 23, 2023.
Duprey, a father of two, crashed the moped and suffered severe head trauma, dying almost instantly.
Duran, along with posting bond, will need to surrender his passport while his legal team has 120 days to file an appeal to the state’s First Judicial Department, Appellate Division.
The ex-cop’s family members told Sergeants Benevolent Association president Vincent Vallelong on Friday after the successful bail decision by the higher court that they were ecstatic to have their loved one back home for now.
“There are no words to describe how happy they are and that’s what this is all about,” he told The Post in a Friday interview.
