A man fleeing New York City police officers on a motorcycle died on Wednesday after a sergeant hurled a plastic picnic cooler at his head from close range, causing a violent crash, authorities said.
The sergeant, Erik Duran, was suspended without pay just hours after the death of Eric Duprey, 30, in the University Heights section of the Bronx, police said.
Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the gas-powered motorcycle on a sidewalk toward a group of people, including the sergeant, who was not in uniform.
As he approached, the video shows Duran pick up a red object — the picnic cooler — and throw it. Duprey is struck hard. He loses control, then is tossed toward a tree as the motorcycle veers into the street.
The bike smashes into a metal barricade before coming to rest against a parked car.
Duprey was pronounced dead at the scene minutes after the crash, which happened at about 5:30pm.
Police said that Duprey tried to flee on a friend’s motorcycle after he was caught selling drugs to an undercover police officer.
The sergeant was standing on the sidewalk as part of the “buy-and-bust” operation carried out by the Bronx Narcotics Unit.
Police declined to specify what drugs Duprey was accused of selling.
Reached by telephone, Duprey’s mother, Gretchen Soto, told reporters that the police narrative was “all lies,” insisting that her son was not selling drugs or trying to evade officers.
She said she was on a video call with him from Puerto Rico on Wednesday when suddenly the screen went dark.
“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 in Spanish.
She said Duprey lived in the Bronx, worked as a delivery driver and had three children, ages three, five and nine.
“They left three fatherless babies,” Soto said.
“I’m going to get justice,” she added.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which has jurisdiction to probe deaths involving police, is investigating.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) said it is cooperating.
“The NYPD is committed to ensuring that there will be a full, thorough and transparent investigation of this incident to determine the facts and to take the appropriate steps forward,” it said in a statement.
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