BRONX, N.Y.—Community members gathered with the family of Eric Duprey as the trial of his killer, Erik Duran, entered its last day—a possible “light at the end of the tunnel” for a long, arduous legal and political struggle to see Duprey’s killer brought to justice.
In August 2023, NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran threw a cooler filled with ice, water, and over a dozen soda cans directly at Duprey, who was trying to flee from a sting operation which the police department’s narcotics unit botched. Duprey was on a moped, traveling at high speed down a sidewalk where Duran stood facing him.
Tuesday, when Duran took the stand, he claimed that Duprey was not trying to escape but was instead trying to “ambush” him and kill other detectives on the scene. Video footage shared in court showed Duprey indeed fleeing the scene but with ample time for Duran to move out of the way (as two other witnesses did).
Duran, who is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, is seen putting his entire body weight into hurling the filled cooler at Duprey, hitting Duprey off his moped, which crashed into a barricade. Duprey spun uncontrollably and headfirst toward the concrete under a parked car. His head was split open on impact, and he died on the scene.
Tanesha Grant, executive director of Parents Supporting Parents New York, spoke at a press conference organized by Black Lives Matter-Greater New York about how mass incarceration is rooted in the history of chattel slavery of the United States.
“We’re here every day, the family knows that we love them…it’s hard y’all, it’s very hard. We have known the injustice of this country when it comes to Black and brown people. Before we had video we had a mother named Mrs. Till who put it on display,” she said.
Grant was referring to the mother of Emmett Till, who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14 after being accused of offending a white woman. His mother, Mamie Till, opted for an open casket funeral to expose the brutal nature of her son’s murder by two white men.
“We still have pictures and postcards of our ancestors hanging from trees and their bodies still smoldering with American people—men, women, and children, smiling. This has been happening…. Eric should be here for one reason: This country should have been stopped allowing it…. See, they make the laws, but they don’t obey the law, and then they put ‘Justice for All’ on these bullshit buildings!”
The brutality of the NYPD in the Duprey case is not incidental. Just last year, Saniyah Cheatham died in a Bronx precinct after being held overnight following an alleged altercation at a 4th of July party. Kelly Bravo, a friend to Cheatham, spoke at the press conference, sharing Cheatham’s story and connecting it to Duprey’s.
“This system is working as designed to kill people of color. I know this to be true in my personal life because I lost a friend to this racist system. My best friend, Saniyah Cheatham, was found dead in her cell hours after her arrest on July 4th last year,” Bravo said.
“The same way these cops didn’t care about Eric Duprey’s life, they didn’t care about Saniyah’s life either. Saniyah should be here today. She should have seen her 19th birthday. She should have been able to continue her studies at Bronx Community College. She should have lived a long, happy life. But the 41st Precinct took her from me, from her family, and from her community.”
The 41st Precinct’s record of events has long been questioned by the Cheatham family and their community. The NYPD Force Investigation Division is currently investigating the circumstances of Cheatham’s death.
The Bronx Times reports that the “city medical examiner’s office ruled the death a suicide, and the New York Times cited two unnamed sources who said Cheatham used her sweater to hang herself.” The family contested that claim, saying that Cheatham was not wearing the sweater in question that day and that she was in high spirits just before being taken by the police.
Bravo said Cheatham’s death “still hits” from time to time, yet she remains steadfast in her determination to see justice through. After her friend’s death, Bravo began going to rallies and vigils for other extra-judicial killings around the city, most recently a vigil for Eudes Pierre, who was fatally shot ten times by police in 2021 while he was experiencing a mental health crisis and approached officers with a knife.
New York Attorney General Letitia James did not pursue charges against the officers involved, and the Civilian Complaint Review Board determined that they had acted “within NYPD guidelines.” Pierre’s family, however, believes the situation could have turned out differently had mental health professionals been dispatched to the scene.
A similar case this week, that of Jabez Chakraborty, who was shot and killed in his home by Officer Tyree White of the 107th Precinct in Queens, is reviving demands that police alone should not be responding to mental health crisis calls.
Footage from a body cam worn by White shows Chakraborty grabbing a knife and coming toward the officers immediately after his mother opened the door allowing them to enter the home. The officers yelled at him to drop the knife and retreated behind the door, which Chakraborty attempts to open while still holding the knife. That’s when White opened fire.
Chakraborty is now hospitalized and “fighting for his life on a ventilator,” according to New York City Councilmember Shanana Hatif.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently called on Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz not to press criminal charges against Chakraborty, saying, “What Jabez needs is mental health treatment, not criminal prosecution by a district attorney,” according to amNY. Mamdani says the incident is further reason to “expedite” the formation of a “Department of Community Safety,” his police reform proposal.
Back at the press conference outside the Duran trial, Bravo continued, “We must hold these pigs accountable for the death they facilitate. We must destroy this racist system which ravages our community.”
She identified herself as a member of the New York Young Communist League and said the organization is pushing for the implementation of “directly-elected civilian control boards… that would have the full and unconditional power over the policy, budget, hiring, and firing of police.”
The verdict for “Cooler Killer” Erik Duran is expected Friday.
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