Bruce Blakeman, the Republican contender for New York’s governorship, has pledged to grant clemency to a former NYPD sergeant convicted of manslaughter. The officer was found guilty for his role in the death of a suspect who was attempting to escape on a scooter when the sergeant intervened by hurling a cooler.

Blakeman made this announcement during a news conference held in front of New York City’s City Hall on Monday morning.

The case involves Sgt. Erik Duran, aged 38, who received a prison sentence ranging from three to nine years for his actions that led to the 2023 death of Eric Duprey, a 30-year-old suspected drug dealer.

In a courtroom scene at the Bronx County Hall of Justice on April 9, 2026, former NYPD sergeant Erik Duran sat during his sentencing. His conviction stemmed from an incident where he threw a drink-filled picnic cooler at Eric Duprey, who was attempting to flee on a scooter, resulting in Duprey’s fatal crash. (Michael R. Sisak/AP)

The New York Attorney General, Letitia James, through her office, had argued for a sentence between five and 15 years.

The chain of events began when Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer. As he attempted to escape arrest on a scooter, Duran, dressed in plainclothes, seized a bystander’s cooler and used it to stop Duprey.

It struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter. He crashed and died.

Eric Duprey died in August 2023 when an NYPD officer threw a cooler at him as he was fleeing a drug operation in the Bronx. (WNYW)

“I took this job to save lives,” Duran told the judge at sentencing last week. “I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash.”

The NYPD sergeant is the first member of the department to be sent to prison for a duty-related death in decades.

Duran’s defense had opted for a bench trial, with no jury, under Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell, an appointee under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, in February.

Mitchell rejected Duran’s argument that the cooler throwing was justified in order to protect other officers from harm by the fleeing suspect and said the sentence would server as a “general deterrent” for other officers.

“They had enough to investigate and catch him on a different day,” he said of Duran and other officers at the scene. “The distinction is that the deceased will no longer be seen again by his family.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman makes an announcement regarding an executive order banning transgender girls and women from competing in women’s sports at county facilities in Mineola, New York, on March 18, 2024. (Adam Gray/Reuters)

Vincent Vallelong, the president of the NYPD Sergeant’s Benevolent Association, called the sentence “one of the darkest days in the history of our profession.”

“It wasn’t only Sgt. Duran, a great cop, who was on trial,” he said after sentencing Thursday. “Every law enforcement officer who makes a split second decision in the performance of their duties to protect the public, was also on trial.”

The NYPD fired Duran after his conviction, which he is expected to appeal.

Blakeman, who was commissioner of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority during the 9/11 terror attacks, is currently the county executive in Nassau County, a suburb just east of New York City. He has received President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the race against incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.

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