The bench trial for NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran, accused of murdering a man by throwing a cooler at his head, began in the Bronx on Wednesday — the first active member of the department to be prosecuted in more than a decade.
Demonstrators outside the Bronx Hall of Justice, located at 265 East 161st St., rallied to demand Duran’s conviction as the case got underway inside. In the coming days, a judge — not a jury or the court of public opinion — will decide the sergeant’s fate based on the evidence presented.
Both the prosecution, from the Attorney General’s office, and the defense agreed that the man Duran killed, Eric Duprey, was caught by Duran selling drugs in August 2023. The disagreement arises from what happened in the moments that followed.
Angel Chiohh, of the Attorney General’s office, made a long opening statement on Jan. 14, telling Judge Guy Mitchell that Duran quite literally threw caution to the wind that summer’s day when he allegedly hurled the cooler at the 30-year-old Duprey, out of apparent frustration for a drug bust gone awry.
According to Chiohh, police had arrested the wrong man and Duprey attempted to make his escape on a motorized scooter. That’s when Duran allegedly lifted a nearby cooler and chucked it at Duprey.
“Make no mistake about it, it wasn’t an accident, because the act of picking up a loaded cooler requires a lot of strength, and the subsequent act of heaving that cooler at somebody’s head with such force that it knocks them off a scooter, crashing into the street and dying, requires a lot of force,” Chiohh stressed. “The defendant intended to cause Mr. Duprey serious physical injury that day, and he killed Mr. Dupery.”
Chiohh also went on to charge that the prosecution will be producing a video that will show that Dupery swerved off the road and hit a car with such force that it “violently” shook, and when he struck the ground, his brain matter was left spilled on the concrete.
“Mr. Dupery had severe head trauma, multiple skull fractures to the head and face, bleeding in his brain, his injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma, and it was not an injury that someone should survive,” Chiohh added.
Duran’s defense attorney, Andrew Quinn, presented a significantly different narrative. Quinn cited his client as a selfless hero who put his body in the way to prevent Duprey from mowing down pedestrians on the sidewalk and turned to the cooler so he didn’t open fire in a busy street.
“He had a choice: Jump out of the way, save himself — whatever happens to the guys behind me is not my fault, or take action,” Quinn said. “The only thing available to him, because there was a table next to him, was a cooler. He hadn’t touched it before, he’d never seen it before.”
Quinn went on to allege that the act of throwing the cooler was not about ensuring that Dupery did not escape — police already had his information, the attorney said — it was about preventing loss of life from Dupery’s scooter.
“The use of the cooler is irrelevant. That’s not the issue. The issue isn’t that he used a cooler; the issue is whether he was justified in using the force,” Quinn asked. “My client used force to protect lives. That is what we ask our police officers to do.”
Testimony begins
Dupery’s mother, Gretchen Soto, was the first witness called to the stand. The distraught mother wept as she was asked about the moment she learned of her son’s fate. She was also asked about the moment she viewed postmortem photos of Dupery, describing them in one word: “Horrible.”
Next, a former cop from the 52nd Precinct who was on patrol and responded to the incident was called to the stand. Brandon Piehler, now with Greenburgh police, was quizzed by both sides about what he saw that day, and even showed his body camera footage.
The video played in court appeared to show Duprey lying on the ground surrounded by plainclothes officers several feet from the trashed scooter. The defense attempted to use nearby picnickers on scene as proof that Duran looked to defend pedestrians.
Meanwhile, the prosecution attempted to use the footage to highlight the ice, drinks, and other debris left behind by the hurled cooler.
Another witness, a former EMT, shared that when she asked the cops on scene what took place after her arrival, she was told that Duprey had simply been attempting to evade police when he collided with the vehicle.
Calls for justice outside
A group of protesters created a picket line outside of the proceedings. Holding signs and chanting, dubbing Duran the “cooler killer,” they demanded that the Sergeant be found guilty. While the defense and prosecution did not differ on Duprey’s drug affiliation, Black Lives Matter Greater New York founder Hawk Newsome argued that Duprey will never get the opportunity to face a judge.
“In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty, but we will never know if he was guilty of that sale, because the police killed him before he could face trial,” Newsome said. “You should have fallen back on your training. Nothing in your training quote, unquote, says to pick up a cooler and hurl it into someone’s head.”
Duprey’s mother and wife, Orlyanis Velez, joined activists following the first day of trial.
“I miss my son, I am in pain, and I just want justice for my son,” Soto said.
