A New York City police sergeant has been suspended without pay after throwing a picnic cooler filled with sodas and water at a motorcyclist fleeing a drug bust on Wednesday, causing a crash that killed the suspect. The NYPD has warned its officers to prepare for possible unrest in the wake of the death.
The action began around 5:30pm, as undercover cops conducted a buy-and-bust operation near 192nd Street and Aqueduct Avenue. After a man named Eric Duprey allegedly sold drugs to the cops, they attempted to arrest him. However, an unidentified man brought a "limited-use motorcycle" (or moped) with a top speed of 30 mpg to Duprey, who took off down Aqueduct Avenue.
Near the intersection with 190th Street, Duprey drove onto the sidewalk and toward a group of nearly a dozen people sitting around a table. NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran seized a picnic cooler from the table and hurled it at Duprey at point-blank range. "The cop...took my cooler, which was filled with soda cans, water bottles, and hit him," said a 42-year-old witness, who asked the New York Daily News not to use his name.
Duprey immediately lost control of the motorcycle and hit a tree. In a video of the crash, Duprey can be seen tumbling off the bike and down the street. EMS arrived quickly, but pronounced Duprey dead just four minutes later.
"Suspect Fatally Crashes While Fleeing Drug Bust on Scooter: NYPD Undercover Officer Throws Cooler" pic.twitter.com/Jvdl8xX3Qr
— LLN NYC (@loudlabsnyc) August 24, 2023
A 30-year-old Bronx resident, Duprey has been arrested at least twice before. One was a drug charge. In an eerie parallel to the strange circumstances of his death, he's also the subject of an open felony assault case for allegedly throwing a two-liter soda bottle through the driver-side window of vehicle, sources told the New York Post.
A memorial to Duprey promptly sprang up at the scene of his death, complete with some 200 candles and bouquets of carnations. The New York Times reports that he was married and had two children, ages 5 and 3. "Officers are supposed to be protecting people, not killing people for no reason," said his wife, Orlyanis Velez. "I want justice for my husband."
Duprey's mother told Associated Press the police account was "all lies," claiming she was in the midst of a video chat with Duprey when he was killed. "He wasn’t fleeing. He wasn’t fleeing. He was just on the motorcycle talking to me on the video chat. And he passed by that place when all of a sudden the call cut out,” she said. She said Duprey was also father to a 9-year-old, in addition to the two children reported by the Times.
Thirty-five-year-old Duran has served on the NYPD for 13 years, and is approaching one year on the Narcotics Bureau Bronx, the New York Times reports. The investigation of Duran's actions will be led by the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James. He was the subject of a 2022 complaint that he abused his authority during a traffic stop; the complaint was determined to be "substantiated." He also has 38 citations for excellent or meritorious service.
The suspension without pay will surely cause discontent among NYPD cops. However, some top brass were quick to throw Duran under the moped bus. “The use of force here is not consistent with our guidelines,” an anonymous NYPD official told the Daily News. “We don’t train officers to pick up something and throw it at a suspect.”
Really? If it's true that he was speeding on a motorcycle down an occupied sidewalk, Duprey presented a risk of death or great bodily harm to the public. Whatever your feelings about the morality of the drug-law enforcement that precipitated the wild episode, an intervention that posed the same risk of death or great bodily harm to Duprey seems warranted.
