What to KnowEric Duprey was fleeing the Bronx scene on a motorized scooter in 2023 when then-NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran threw a picnic cooler with drinks at him in an effort to get him to stop, officials have said.Duprey lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree, and crashed onto the pavement. He h it his head, and wasn’t wearing a helmet. Duprey died almost instantly. He was 30 years old.His death was ruled a homicide, and Duran was arrested on multiple charges. He testified that he made a split-second decision to keep officers safe from the scooter that was speeding at them.Duprey was a delivery driver with three young kids. His mother, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers.In February, Duran was convicted of manslaughter, becoming the first on-duty NYPD officer in a decade to be found guilty of killing a civilian. He faced up to 15 years at sentencing. A former NYPD sergeant was sentenced to three to nine years in prison Thursday for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter, hit his head on the ground, and died. The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey, becoming the first on-duty NYPD officer in a decade to be found guilty of killing a civilian. The former sergeant, who has said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter, faced up to 15 years in prison. Officers in NYPD jackets streamed down a Bronx courthouse hallway ahead of the sentencing, while a couple of dozen protesters demonstrated outside to demand justice for Duprey. The case has animated police and activists alike. Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, says thousands of officers have signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison. Prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office sought a three-to-nine-year prison sentence for Duran, saying he recklessly caused Duprey’s death. “He did that while on duty,” then attempted to cover up his actions, prosecutor Joseph Bianco told the court. “I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash,” Duran told the court Thursday, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man’s injuries. “I never wanted this to happen,” he added, addressing Duprey’s family directly in Spanish that a court interpreter translated. Duprey’s mother, Gretchen Soto, wept as the ex-officer spoke . She had told the court a half-hour earlier: “There are no words to express what I feel.” Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were 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 said. Duran was part of a narcotics policing group that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter. Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk toward a group of people. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn’t in uniform — picked up a bystander’s cooler and threw it. The container full of ice, water, and sodas struck Duprey. He lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree, and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey, 30, wasn’t wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantaneously, according to prosecutors with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office. They argued that Duran had enough time to warn others to move, but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry. Duran, however, testified that he made a split-second decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them. “He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said in court, adding that “all I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.” He testified that he immediately tried to help Duprey after seeing the crash and the extent of the man’s injuries. Duran opted to have a judge, not a jury, decide the case. Judge Guy Mitchell found him guilty, saying that his status as a police officer “has no bearing” on the case. But Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong has said the conviction sent “a terrible message to hard-working cops” about the costs of defending themselves and fellow officers. Duran was an NYPD officer for 13 years before he was suspended after the crash. He was dismissed from the force after his conviction this past February. Duprey worked as a delivery driver and had three young children. His mother, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers. She told the judge Thursday her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.” “There are no words to express what I feel,” Soto said through a Spanish interpreter. “It is an unjust incident. As a mother, I have to miss him now every day.” ...read more read less