Former NYPD officer faces 3 to 9 years in prison for throwing cooler that caused fatal crash

A former New York City police sergeant was sentenced Thursday to three to nine years in prison for throwing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who crashed his motorized scooter and died.

The former officer, Eric Duren, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Dupre. The former sergeant said he was trying to shield other officers from an oncoming scooter.

“I did it to save a life. I felt horrible when I saw Eric Dupre in the accident,” Duran told the court Thursday, adding that he “did everything I could” to treat the man’s injuries.

“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, addressing Dupre’s family directly in Spanish that was translated by a court interpreter.

Dupre’s mother, Gretchen Soto, cried as the former officer spoke. “There are no words to express what I feel,” she told the court half an hour earlier.

Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the former sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified.

“The court believes that the defendant, Sergeant Duren, was concerned that Mr. Duprey was running away” and reacted by throwing the cooler, Mitchell said.

The issue has the animation police on one side and the activists on the other. Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said thousands of officers had signed an online petition calling for him to be spared jail.

Officers in New York Police Department jackets streamed down the hallways of a Bronx courthouse before the sentencing Thursday, while two dozen protesters demonstrated outside to demand justice for Dupre.

Prosecutors from state Attorney General Letitia James’ office asked for three to nine years in prison for Duran, saying Duran’s death was negligent.

“He did that while on duty,” then tried to cover up his actions, prosecutor Joseph Bianco told the court.

Duran and his lawyers had not yet had a chance to speak.

Duren was part of a narcotics task force that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on August 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.

Surveillance video shows Dupre driving a motorized scooter toward a group of people on the sidewalk. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who was not in uniform — picked up a nearby cooler and threw it.

A container filled with ice, water and soda hit Dupree. He lost control of the scooter, crashed into a tree and landed on the pavement. Dupre, 30, was not wearing a helmet. He suffered severe head injuries and died almost immediately, according to prosecutors.

They argued that Duran had enough time to warn others to move but instead threw the cooler because he was angry.

However, Duran testified at his trial that he made a split-second decision to protect the other officers from the scooter speeding toward them.

“He was going to crash into us,” said Duran then, “I only had time to try again to stop or try to get him to change direction.”

Duran opted to have Michel decide the case rather than as a jury.

Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants’ Benevolent Association, said the sentence sent a “terrible message to hard-working police” about the cost of defending themselves and their fellow officers.

Duran was an NYPD officer for 13 years before being suspended after the accident. He was dismissed from the force last February after his conviction.

Dupre worked as a delivery driver and had three young children. His mother, Gretchen Soto, who said she was on a video call with him before he died, disputed police claims he sold drugs and ran from officers.

She told the judge Thursday that her son was “not just a name, not just another case.”

“It’s an unjust event,” Soto said through a Spanish translator. “As a mother, I have to miss him every day now.”

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