A New York Police Department drug-bust went sideways in August 2023, leaving a suspect dead and then-Sgt. Erik Duran's life in shambles.

Bruce Blakeman, a Republican gubernatorial candidate hoping to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in the November election, has vowed, however, to liberate Duran and give him a blank slate.

How it started

Undercover narcotics officers conducted a drug bust in the University Heights section of the Bronx after 5 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2023, with the aim of capturing local drug traffickers.

'One of the darkest days in the history of the law-enforcement profession.'

After 30-year-old Eric Duprey allegedly sold cocaine to one of the officers, plainclothes and undercover officers rushed in to make the arrest. Duprey proved, however, too slippery for a quick capture. He jumped onto a motorcycle, which the New York Times reported had been transported within reach by an unidentified individual, then sped off.

Duprey was caught on camera speeding down a sidewalk, then careening toward a group of about 10 people, including Duran, seated around a table.

Duran — an undercover member of the NYPD Narcotics Borough Bronx Tactical Response Unit who was reportedly slapped with a substantiated complaint of abuse of authority the previous year — grabbed a red Igloo cooler from the table and chucked it at the motorcycle.

A witness told the Daily News that Duprey "was on the bike, moving north when the cops started chasing him. ... Then he took a U-turn and was riding on the sidewalk. ... The cop then took my cooler, which was filled with soda cans, water bottles, and hit him."

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The cooler struck Duprey in the head, making him lose control and ultimately go flying. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

Duran was suspended the following day and in January 2024 was charged by the office of radical New York Attorney General Letitia James with manslaughter, assault, and criminally negligent homicide.

"I didn’t have time to think," Duran — who pleaded not guilty — testified during his trial earlier this year. "I thought he was going to kill my guys, he was going so fast."

"He was going to crash right into them," added Duran.

Duran's lawyers argued both that Duprey "wasn't trying to get away" but rather "ambushing" police and that Duprey died because of a "series of bad choices," reported CBS News.

Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell — who was originally appointed in 2015 by former Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and previously let off a black teen who beat a homeless man to death with what turned out to be only nine months in prison — refused to accept Duran's justification and convicted him in February of second-degree manslaughter. The criminally negligent homicide charge was waived.

The Times reported that shortly after the verdict was delivered, Duran was fired from the NYPD.

How it's going

Ahead of his sentencing last week, Duran, a father of three, told Mitchell, "Your honor, I am asking for a chance to be there with my kids. I am asking for a chance, just one," reported the New York Post.

Mitchell acknowledged that the ex-cop was remorseful but decided to make an example of him as a "general deterrent" to other officers, sentencing him to three to nine years in state prison.

Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, wrote in an op-ed following Duran's sentencing, "I can say without equivocation that the sentencing of Sgt. Erik Duran will forever be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the law-enforcement profession."

"Moving forward, the SBA will support Sgt. Duran and his heartbroken family throughout his appeal until this miscarriage of justice is rectified," wrote Vallelong. "Sgt. Duran, who served the NYPD with dedication and helped save lives throughout his career, deserves nothing less."

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a Trump-endorsed GOP candidate running for New York governor — has vowed that if elected in November, he will immediately pardon Duran.

The promised action is "consistent with [Blakeman's] commitment to back law enforcement and make every neighborhood in New York safer," the candidate's campaign told the Post.

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