A New York City police sergeant was indicted Tuesday on charges he threw a cooler at a man driving a scooter who subsequently crashed and died in August, according to the New York state attorney general’s office.
Sgt. Erik Duran is charged with second-degree manslaughter, first- and second-degree assault and criminally negligent homicide in the death of Eric Duprey. He faces up to 25 years in prison if he is convicted of the top charge in the indictment.
Duran pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in the Bronx and made bail, which was set at $150,000. Dozens of police officers went to court in his support.
Duran’s attorney said Duprey was driving the motorbike at 40 mph on a crowded sidewalk, putting bystanders and police officers in danger.
“Sgt. Duran made a split second decision to prevent serious injury or death to those citizens and officers,” attorney John D’Alessandro said in a statement. “This indictment sends a clear message to society and every law enforcement officer in this state. In today’s New York, the streets belong to the criminals.”
Duran's union, the Sergeants’ Benevolent Association, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Duran was conducting an undercover drug purchase operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23 when Duprey tried to flee arrest on his motorbike.
Surveillance video shows Duran grabbing a plastic cooler off a nearby table and throwing it at Duprey, striking him in the head.
Duprey lost control of the vehicle, crashed into a nearby tree and hit his head on the curb. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Duran, 37, was suspended without pay shortly after the incident and later placed on modified duty. He has been under investigation by the state attorney general for months and is expected back in court on April 18.
Orlyalis Velez, Duprey’s wife, has called for Duran to be imprisoned.
"This is abuse, power abuse,” Velez told NBC New York last year. “There was no reason to kill him. He don’t got no gun. He got nothing on him.”
“I don’t want [Duran] suspended; I want him in jail,” she said at the time. “He’s still home, he still sees his family.”
An attorney for the family, Jonathan Roberts, said they were “happy at least that something is being done.”
“The family is encouraged that this is the first step in holding this officer accountable for the senseless and horrible killing of Eric Duprey, a loving partner, a loving father and a loving son,” Roberts said.