New York
Police officer charged in cooler throw death says he was trying to protect officers
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police sergeant who hurled a plastic cooler at a man fleeing officers on a motorized scooter, causing a crash that killed the driver, says he was trying to protect other officers from being injured.
Testifying Monday at his manslaughter trial, Erik Duran said he was not trying to injure Eric Duprey, 30, when he threw the cooler full of ice, water and sodas in August 2023. Authorities have said Duprey, a father of three, had just sold drugs to an undercover officer when he tried to drive off.
Duprey, who was not wearing a helmet, lost control of his scooter and crashed into a tree before falling to the pavement. He suffered fatal head injuries and died almost instantaneously, prosecutors said.
“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran, 38, told the court. “I mean, I didn’t have time. All I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions. That’s all I had the time to think of.”
Besides the manslaughter charge, Duran also faces criminally negligent homicide and assault charges. The nonjury trial is being prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office, which investigates civilian deaths during encounters with law enforcement.
Duran faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter count Closing arguments were scheduled for Tuesday.
Tennessee
College QB files lawsuit seeking additional year of eligibility
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has filed a lawsuit as he bids for an extra year of eligibility that would allow him to play this fall.
The complaint filed Friday in Knox County Chancery Court in Tennessee argues that Aguilar should be allowed a fourth year of playing Division I football rather than having the years he spent in junior college count against his eligibility. The Knoxville (Tennessee) News Sentinel first reported on the lawsuit.
Aguilar played at Diablo Valley (California) Community College from 2021-22 before transferring to Appalachian State, where he spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Aguilar then transferred to Tennessee and completed 67.3% of his passes for 3,565 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this past season.
He also redshirted at City College of San Francisco in 2019 before his 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic.
“Aguilar needs relief now, to know whether he should report to spring practice or prepare for the NFL draft,” the complaint says.
Aguilar is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction requiring the NCAA to permit him to play one more season for Tennessee in 2026.
Aguilar had recently removed himself from the list of plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia had filed in federal court. Pavia’s lawsuit had challenged an NCAA rule that counts seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ eligibility for Division I football.
Pavia initially sued the NCAA in November 2024 and won a preliminary injunction that allowed him to play for Vanderbilt in 2025. He finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting and helped Vanderbilt go 10-3.
The NCAA appealed the Pavia ruling but issued a blanket waiver that granted an extra year of eligibility to former junior college players whose situations were similar to the Vanderbilt quarterback.
“Despite Pavia’s injunction, the NCAA’s blanket waiver for JUCO players and the record-breaking successes of the 2025 season, the NCAA decided to enforce the JUCO rule again in 2026,” the complaint says. “It refuses to grant waivers, even on an individual basis, to any athletes who ask that their junior-college years not be counted against them. The NCAA has given no rational explanation for that disparate treatment.”
Although Pavia now plans to enter the NFL draft, he continued his lawsuit to assist other former junior college players. Norris’ complaint notes that a ruling on the Pavia case won’t come until at least Feb. 10.
“This sequence of events put Aguilar in an untenable position,” the complaint says. “He cannot wait much longer to know whether he is eligible to play college football in 2026.”
According to the complaint, Aguilar removed himself from the Pavia case and filed his own lawsuit in hopes of a quick ruling. Norris wrote that Aguilar has a spot on Tennessee’s roster waiting for him and that he could make about $2 million playing college football this year.
Washington
More departures at the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new wave of departures is rippling through the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota, where additional federal prosecutors are leaving at a time of mounting frustration with the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement and the Justice Department’s response to fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The latest departures are on top of a half-dozen attorneys who left the office last month amid disagreements over the Justice Department’s response to the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. At least one supervisory agent in the FBI’s Minneapolis office is known to have resigned last month as well.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported Monday evening that eight lawyers have since departed the office or announced plans to do so. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public personnel moves, confirmed that this number was correct and that more departures were likely. Another person also confirmed a new wave of departures in the office.
The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The resignations reflect the turbulence that has roiled the state over the last month or so as law enforcement officials have clashed over how to respond to violent confrontations during the heightened immigration enforcement. Minnesota officials, for instance, raised alarm after federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing evidence in the Good shooting and declared that Minnesota has no jurisdiction to investigate the killing. The Justice Department also declined to open a civil rights investigation into her death.
After initially saying that the Department of Homeland Security would lead the investigation into the subsequent killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week said the Justice Department would open a civil rights investigation.
Police officer charged in cooler throw death says he was trying to protect officers
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police sergeant who hurled a plastic cooler at a man fleeing officers on a motorized scooter, causing a crash that killed the driver, says he was trying to protect other officers from being injured.
Testifying Monday at his manslaughter trial, Erik Duran said he was not trying to injure Eric Duprey, 30, when he threw the cooler full of ice, water and sodas in August 2023. Authorities have said Duprey, a father of three, had just sold drugs to an undercover officer when he tried to drive off.
Duprey, who was not wearing a helmet, lost control of his scooter and crashed into a tree before falling to the pavement. He suffered fatal head injuries and died almost instantaneously, prosecutors said.
“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran, 38, told the court. “I mean, I didn’t have time. All I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions. That’s all I had the time to think of.”
Besides the manslaughter charge, Duran also faces criminally negligent homicide and assault charges. The nonjury trial is being prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office, which investigates civilian deaths during encounters with law enforcement.
Duran faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter count Closing arguments were scheduled for Tuesday.
Tennessee
College QB files lawsuit seeking additional year of eligibility
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has filed a lawsuit as he bids for an extra year of eligibility that would allow him to play this fall.
The complaint filed Friday in Knox County Chancery Court in Tennessee argues that Aguilar should be allowed a fourth year of playing Division I football rather than having the years he spent in junior college count against his eligibility. The Knoxville (Tennessee) News Sentinel first reported on the lawsuit.
Aguilar played at Diablo Valley (California) Community College from 2021-22 before transferring to Appalachian State, where he spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Aguilar then transferred to Tennessee and completed 67.3% of his passes for 3,565 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this past season.
He also redshirted at City College of San Francisco in 2019 before his 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic.
“Aguilar needs relief now, to know whether he should report to spring practice or prepare for the NFL draft,” the complaint says.
Aguilar is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction requiring the NCAA to permit him to play one more season for Tennessee in 2026.
Aguilar had recently removed himself from the list of plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia had filed in federal court. Pavia’s lawsuit had challenged an NCAA rule that counts seasons spent at junior colleges against players’ eligibility for Division I football.
Pavia initially sued the NCAA in November 2024 and won a preliminary injunction that allowed him to play for Vanderbilt in 2025. He finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting and helped Vanderbilt go 10-3.
The NCAA appealed the Pavia ruling but issued a blanket waiver that granted an extra year of eligibility to former junior college players whose situations were similar to the Vanderbilt quarterback.
“Despite Pavia’s injunction, the NCAA’s blanket waiver for JUCO players and the record-breaking successes of the 2025 season, the NCAA decided to enforce the JUCO rule again in 2026,” the complaint says. “It refuses to grant waivers, even on an individual basis, to any athletes who ask that their junior-college years not be counted against them. The NCAA has given no rational explanation for that disparate treatment.”
Although Pavia now plans to enter the NFL draft, he continued his lawsuit to assist other former junior college players. Norris’ complaint notes that a ruling on the Pavia case won’t come until at least Feb. 10.
“This sequence of events put Aguilar in an untenable position,” the complaint says. “He cannot wait much longer to know whether he is eligible to play college football in 2026.”
According to the complaint, Aguilar removed himself from the Pavia case and filed his own lawsuit in hopes of a quick ruling. Norris wrote that Aguilar has a spot on Tennessee’s roster waiting for him and that he could make about $2 million playing college football this year.
Washington
More departures at the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new wave of departures is rippling through the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota, where additional federal prosecutors are leaving at a time of mounting frustration with the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement and the Justice Department’s response to fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The latest departures are on top of a half-dozen attorneys who left the office last month amid disagreements over the Justice Department’s response to the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. At least one supervisory agent in the FBI’s Minneapolis office is known to have resigned last month as well.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported Monday evening that eight lawyers have since departed the office or announced plans to do so. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public personnel moves, confirmed that this number was correct and that more departures were likely. Another person also confirmed a new wave of departures in the office.
The office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The resignations reflect the turbulence that has roiled the state over the last month or so as law enforcement officials have clashed over how to respond to violent confrontations during the heightened immigration enforcement. Minnesota officials, for instance, raised alarm after federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing evidence in the Good shooting and declared that Minnesota has no jurisdiction to investigate the killing. The Justice Department also declined to open a civil rights investigation into her death.
After initially saying that the Department of Homeland Security would lead the investigation into the subsequent killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol officers, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last week said the Justice Department would open a civil rights investigation.
