Former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran was released from an upstate maximum-security prison on Monday after posting $300,000 bail, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Duran, 38, was sentenced to 3-9 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter for the death of Eric Duprey, a suspected drug dealer, whom he killed by throwing a heavy, ice-filled cooler at him.
But the cop only spent about two weeks behind bars at the Elmira Correctional Facility before a state appellate judge ruled on Friday that he could appeal his conviction from outside prison.
“Thank you everyone for your prayers,” Duran said in a statement Monday. “I now look forward to seeing my family and fighting my appeal with the same determination I demonstrated throughout my career in the NYPD.”
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Obtained by Daily News Eric Duprey (pictured), a scooter-riding suspect fleeing a Bronx buy-and-bust drug sting, died Aug. 23, 2023, after an NYPD sergeant grabbed a cooler from a nearby family get-together and hurled it at the man, knocking him to the ground.
An attorney for Duran, Arthur Aidala, called his sentencing on April 9 by Judge Guy Mitchell “a clear miscarriage of justice,” and said his legal team is “confident this injustice will be rectified.”
As Duran was being reunited with his loved ones, New York Black Lives Matter leader Hawk Newsome stood outside the NYPD’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan to demand Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch apologize to Duprey’s family.
“I demanded that Commissioner Tisch reach out to the family of Eric Duprey and extend her condolences,” Newsome said Monday. “How is it that a police officer is found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced 3-9 years and the police commissioner doesn’t call the family and extend their apology.”
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The Sergeants Benevolent Association, the union representing Duran, cheered the decision signed by Associate Justice Salliann Scarpulla to release the cop.
“He will be released from prison and remain free during his appeal,” SBA President Vincent Vallelong said on social media. “This is a major win for Erik and his family and for law enforcement officers around the country!”
Vallelong called Mitchell’s sentencing Duran to a maximum security prison an “atrocious thing to do,” and said it caused him to “lose a little faith in the justice system.”
“The tireless work done by our attorneys brought the appeal forth,” Vellelong said. He added that the SBA has received a huge response from its fundraising drive for Duran’s legal expenses, which included an ad shown on a jumbotron at a recent Islanders game at USB Arena. “But its the support of the people that means the most,” he said. “It’s really appreciated by the Duran family.”
Duprey, 30, tried to flee police on a motorbike after he was caught on a body-worn camera selling cocaine to an undercover officer on Aqueduct Ave. near W. 192nd St. in Fordham on Aug. 23, 2023. The suspect was speeding down a sidewalk toward a group of officers when Duran lifted the cooler loaded with ice and drinks and hurled it at Duprey.
The impact caused the suspect to lose control, sideswipe a tree and go flying off the scooter. Duprey struck his head on the curb and landed under a parked vehicle. He was not wearing a helmet.
Attorney Jonathan Roberts said Duprey’s family was “deeply disappointed” by the appellate judge’s decision.
“While we respect the appellate process, this outcome reopens painful wounds for a family that has already endured an immense loss,” he said. “Our focus remains on seeking accountability and ensuring that the seriousness of what occurred is never diminished.”
The decision drew the ire of members of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, who lobbied for Mitchell to hit Duran with the full 15-year sentence.
Hawk Newsome and Black Lives Matter co-founder Chivona Newsome said giving Duran bail as he appealed the conviction was “an appalling miscarriage of justice that reveals the deep rot within our legal system.”
“While thousands of Black and Brown New Yorkers languish in Rikers Island without ever being convicted of a crime, a man found guilty of manslaughter is allowed to walk free because of a backdoor legal maneuver,” they said. “This is not justice. It is systematic sabotage.”