NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran is sentenced in Bronx Court Thursday, April 9, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post A radical Bronx judge’s outrageous 3- to 9-year prison sentence for NYPD Sergeant Erik Duran surely qualifies as one of the worst judicial abuses ever to come out of a US courtroom.
The result will be fewer cops making fewer arrests, and crime spiking.
Judge Guy Mitchell slapped Duran after he found him guilty of manslaughter for having hurled a drink cooler at a scooter-fleeing drug suspect — who then fell, hit his head and died.
“Today will be forever remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of our profession,” fumed Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong after the sentence was announced.
Indeed, every cop in the city should feel betrayed by the conviction and the sentence. As should every New Yorker who cares about public safety.
Ex-NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly slammed the sentence as “a huge miscarriage of justice.”
Indeed, where’s the justification for any imprisonment?
Mitchell could have used his discretion to knock down the charge to criminally negligent homicide, which would have warranted probation and no prison.
Instead, the judge justified the sentence by saying it’d serve as a “general deterrent” to other law-enforcement officers.
Mitchell also concluded that Duran threw the cooler so he wouldn’t lose an arrest.
Huh? Should the cop have ditched his duty as an officer and let the apparent criminal escape?
Truth is, Mitchell had it in for the cop all along: In February, he found him guilty of manslaughter — making Duran the first cop in a decade to be convicted of killing someone while on duty.
Ten years ago, Officer Peter Liang was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting an unarmed Akai Gurley in a dark NYCHA stairwell.
But Liang was sentenced only to probation and 800 hours of community service.
One former New York prosecutor told The Post the sentence was way over the top, especially given that Duran is a 15-year veteran officer, a first-time offender and was convicted of a nonviolent crime.
Heck, Mitchell himself in 2018 gave a gang member only nine months in prison for purposely beating a homeless man to death, though prosecutors begged for at least 10 years.
Seems like the judge cares more about sending off-base messages to cops than truly deserved “deterrent” messages to gangs.
And Mitchell ignored Duran’s sworn testimony that he threw the cooler, at the fleeing suspect, Eric Duprey, during a “buy-and-bust” operation to protect other cops who were in his path.
State Attorney General Letitia James’ office brought manslaughter charges against Duran, claiming he chose to throw the cooler at Duprey to stop him from fleeing and avoiding arrest.
Again, Duran was doing his sworn duties: protecting Bronx residents from drug-dealing gangs and his fellow officers from a perp racing at them on a dangerous vehicle.
Any reasonable person would conclude that the actions of the fleeing drug suspect set off the chain of events that led to his accidental death.
The sentence sends a chilling message to cops about taking any action to protect average New Yorkers from dangerous perps. That seems to be Mitchell’s goal.
With anti-police fanatics like him, AG James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani in charge, New Yorkers should brace for a surge in early police retirements.
Meanwhile, an appellate court should race to vacate Duran’s unjust and punitive sentence.
And someone should get this cop-hating lunatic off the bench.
