Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran was sentenced Thursday to 3-9 years in prison for throwing a cooler filled with ice at Eric Duprey as he fled on a scooter in the Bronx. Acting Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell ordered Duran taken immediately into custody and held on Rikers Island.
The crash that followed on August 23, 2023, left Duprey with several fractures and a brain bleed before he died at the scene. Duran, a narcotics sergeant, had been convicted of the throw that set off the fatal sequence, and Mitchell denied a request for a one-week stay while an appeal was filed.
During the hearing, Duran asked for leniency and said he wanted a chance to be there for his children. He also asked Duprey’s mother, Gretchen Sotoaw, for forgiveness, saying he never wanted this to happen and praying for her and her family. His legal team argued that he should not face prison time, while Duran described years of violence on the job, saying he had seen fellow officers shot and had suffered bites, broken skin and surgeries on ligaments.
The judge said Duran was not in immediate danger and could have let Duprey escape and been recaptured later, a line that cut against the defense’s argument that the throw was a split-second necessity. Law enforcement officials blasted the sentence as a chilling message to police, and Duprey’s family and activists reacted in court as the proceedings ended.
That leaves the case with one clear answer: the court decided Duran’s conduct was serious enough to send him to prison now, not after an appeal.
