A legal fund for ex-NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran was launched Monday in an effort to help the former cop get his conviction overturned after he was sent to prison for fatally flinging a cooler at a fleeing drug suspect.
The NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association is partnering with the National Police Defense Foundation to help raise money for Duran’s appeal to a higher state court “as he fights for justice and freedom,” union head Vincent Vallelong said in a statement.
“We will be reaching out to our law enforcement partners around the nation and to organizations that back the blue to ensure Sergeant Duran can mount a vigorous appeal,” the SBA president said.
“We will not relent until he prevails.”
Duran, a 38-year-old married father of three, was controversially sentenced to 3-to-9 years behind bars last week by Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell for throwing the full Igloo cooler at Eric Duprey, 30, as he drove his moped on a Highbridge sidewalk while fleeing a 2023 drug bust.
Officers said Duprey was spotted handing an undercover cop $20 worth of cocaine during the Aug. 23, 2023 sting operation, before jumping on the motorized scooter.
His defense team argued that the 13-year law enforcement veteran only threw the cooler in a split second decision to prevent Duprey, a father of two with a criminal record, from ramming into other cops in the path of his moped.
Duran testified in his own defense at the 3-week trial, which was prosecuted by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office and heard by Mitchell, instead of a jury.
The judge convicted Duran of second-degree manslaughter in February, finding that he wasn’t justified in using deadly force.
Duran faced anywhere from probation without jail time to up to 15 years in prison at his sentencing Thursday.
He was taken to Rikers Island after Mitchell slammed him with the prison sentence and was being held in protective custody and expected to be transferred to a state facility.
The Putnam County resident’s legal team filed an appeal with an appellate court Friday to grant their client bail while his lawyers attempt to get his conviction reversed.
Funds raised by the NPDF, a non-profit, will go directly toward costs associated with the appeal.
“Let’s show the nation that law enforcement officers support one another, especially when our justice system fails them,” Vallelong said in a statement on the SBA’s website.
One of Duran’s lawyers, Andrew Quinn, has called Mitchell’s actions “repugnant,” especially calling out the judge for saying the punishment would serve as a “general deterrent” for others in law enforcement.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, said Monday he would pardon Duran if he is elected governor in November.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has not weighed in on Duran’s conviction or sentence despite The Post requesting comment on Monday.