Ex-NYPD sergeant freed from jail while he appeals his conviction for deadly cooler throw

NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City police sergeant can stay out of jail while he appeals his manslaughter conviction for tossing a picnic cooler at a fleeing suspect who then crashed his motorized scooter and died, a judge ruled Friday.

The decision by a state appellate court judge came a week after a lower-court judge sentenced Erik Duran to three to nine years in prison and ordered him jailed immediately in the 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey.

Judge Saliann Scarpulla, of the mid-level Appellate Division, ordered Duran freed on $300,000 cash or bond and said he must surrender his passport to his lawyers, who will keep it until his appeal is over.

“This is a major win for Erik and his family and for law enforcement officers around the country,” said Vincent Vallelong, the president of Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

A message seeking comment was left for a lawyer for Duprey’s family.

Duran, a 38-year-old married father of three, was the first former NYPD officer sentenced to prison for an on-duty death in at least two decades. At Duran’s sentencing, defense lawyer Andrew Quinn said he will forever be known as “the cooler cop.”

Another Duran lawyer, Arthur Aidala, asked the Appellate Division to intervene after the sentencing judge, Guy Mitchell, refused to grant the ex-sergeant bail. Duran spent the last week at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

The ruling freeing Duran shows that the Appellate Division sees “legitimate appellate issues in Sgt Duran’s case,” and that is “he is not a flight risk nor a danger to the community,” Aidala said.

Duran was part of a narcotics policing unit 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.

Testifying in his own defense at his trial in February, Duran said he was trying to protect other officers when he heaved the cooler full of ice and drinks at Duprey.

The container struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey was not wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors.

Duprey’s death and Duran’s conviction have galvanized activists, some of whom have labeled him the “cooler killer,” and pro-police forces, who say locking him up sends the message that officers can lose their freedom for split-second decisions.

On Tuesday, the New York Islanders showed a message on the video board at their Long Island arena encouraging hockey fans to donate to Duran’s legal defense fund. The message included a QR code and a message from the Sergeants Benevolent Association, requesting fans join “the fight for justice.”

Vallelong said the fundraiser came together after someone at the New York Post informed him that the Islanders “wanted to do something” for Duran. The team also said it would direct 25% of proceeds from a 50/50 raffle to support Duran, the union said.

An attorney for Duprey’s family, Jon Roberts, said they were “deeply troubled by the decision of the New York Islanders to align themselves, even symbolically, with efforts that appear to support Sgt. Duran’s legal defense.”

“This was not a neutral act,” Roberts’ statement said. “It sends a message — intended or not — that risks undermining public confidence in a fair legal process and deepens the pain of a family still grieving.”