In the Bronx neighborhood where Eric Duprey lived, his fellow dirt bike and motorcycle riders said he often rode down the street and performed his signature move, with his front tire straight up in the air. But residents also said the area was a difficult place to find work, where drugs were rampant and encounters with police could be difficult.
On Wednesday evening, Mr Duprey, 30, was riding a motorcycle and fleeing narcotics officers who tried to apprehend him, police said, when a sergeant, Erik Duran, threw a cool box at him. Mr Duprey lost control of the bike and hit a tree and a car before the bike overturned and he fell to the ground, according to surveillance video reviewed by DailyExpertNews. Four minutes later, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Friday, the New York City medical examiner’s office ruled that Mr. Duprey was a murder. The Public Prosecution Service is investigating the incident.
The episode took place in just a few minutes at around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. In the days since, Mr Duprey’s family has disputed the police statement, and protesters have called for criminal charges against the sergeant who threw the cooler.
According to police officials, undercover narcotics officers near 192nd Street and Aqueduct Avenue were conducting a “buy-and-bust” operation to catch unsuspecting drug dealers in the area. During the operation, police said, Mr Duprey sold narcotics to one of the officers, leading to undercover and plainclothes officers moving in to arrest him.
A man, whom police have not identified, rolled a motorcycle toward Mr Duprey, who got in and sped down Aqueduct Avenue, police said.
Moments later, near the corner of 190th Street, Mr. Duprey can be seen pulling up the sidewalk and heading toward a group of people sitting at a table, consistent with the police report.
At that moment, Sergeant Duran picked up a plastic cooler from the table and threw it at Mr. Duprey, an action captured by the surveillance camera.
Mr. Duprey’s brother, Ryan Rodriguez, said he and Mr. Duprey had been together on Wednesday, on the sidewalk on the east side of Aqueduct Avenue.
“We were just chilling and smoking here, the same thing we do every day,” says 21-year-old Mr Rodriguez. Then, he said, a group of police officers approached Mr. Duprey while he was on a friend’s borrowed motorcycle with the engine turned off.
Mr Duprey started the motorcycle and raced north in an attempt to evade police, Mr Rodriguez said, adding that the reason his brother fled was because the motorcycle was not registered.
“He was afraid they would take his bike away,” Mr Rodriguez said.
But Mr. Duprey found police officers at the next intersection, Mr. Rodriguez said. He turned the bike around and headed south onto the sidewalk.
Sergeant Duran didn’t yell at Mr. Duprey to stop, but Mr. Rodriguez said, adding, “He picked up the cooler and just smacked it in the face.”
When Mr. Duprey fell to the ground with the bike on top of him, Mr. Rodriguez said, Sergeant Duran ran over and lifted the bike off his body before performing CPR. But Mr. Duprey was clearly dead.
“It just broke my heart,” Mr Rodriguez said.
Sergeant Duran was suspended without pay on Thursday, police officials said in a statement rack posted on social media. Police said the Force Research Division would assist with the Attorney General’s investigation.
“The NYPD is committed to ensuring that there is a full, thorough and transparent investigation into this incident to establish the facts and take appropriate steps forward,” the department said in a statement.
On Saturday, Jonathan Roberts, an attorney representing Mr. Duprey, in a statement that Mr. Duprey had been “a loving partner, father and son who provided financial and emotional support to his family.”
He added that “nothing can ease the pain of this family, but the person who committed this heinous act must be held accountable.”
Sergeant Duran’s attorney, Andrew C. Quinn, said there was more to the matter than the video clip showed.
“What is indisputably clear is that the deceased, seeking to evade arrest for selling drugs to an undercover officer, rode a motorcycle down a busy sidewalk in an incredibly dangerous manner, endangering the life and safety of everyone there. came,” said Mr. Quinn said in a statement Friday. “Once a full investigation has been conducted, we are confident that Sergeant Duran will be cleared of any wrongdoing or wrongdoing.”
The swift suspension of Sergeant Duran, 35, a 13-year police veteran, sparked resistance within the department. A senior officer said Sergeant Duran had “attempted to make a lawful arrest” and that the use of a cooler to carry Mr. To stop Duprey was equivalent to “shutting the door” to prevent anyone from leaving.
The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday about the possibility of criminal charges against Sergeant Duran.
It was unclear whether the sergeant’s actions violated the rules laid down in the police patrol guide. A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Because police officers face many unforeseen circumstances in the field, the department doesn’t always have specific guidance on what officers should and shouldn’t do in response to volatile situations or when they perceive a threat to themselves or others, said Maria Haberfeld, president of the police. the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“This isn’t something you’ll see in the patrol guide that you can grab a cooler and throw it at,” she said.
On Saturday afternoon, dozens of people joined activists for a small gathering at the scene of Mr Duprey’s death. Many arrived on motorcycles, which they parked in a long line on the sidewalk.
Chivona Newsome, founder of Greater New York-based Black Lives Matter, called on the Attorney General to charge Sergeant Duran with murder.
“It needs to be charged the same way I would throw a cooler at someone,” she said.
The day before, Mr. Rodriguez held a ceremonial court at a memorial site for Mr. Duprey, which included bouquets of flowers, bottles of Corona beer and tequila, dozens of colorful votive candles, and blown-up color photographs of Mr. Duprey with his wife and two young children.
“I want justice for my brother,” Mr Rodriguez said. “I want that cop locked up in jail.”
Chelsea Rose Marcius reporting contributed.
