New York
Former officer gets 3 to 9 years in prison for throwing cooler in fatal crash
NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City police sergeant was sentenced Thursday to three to nine years in prison for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died.
The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey. The former sergeant said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter.
“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash,” Duran told the court Thursday, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man’s injuries.
“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, addressing Duprey’s family directly in Spanish that a court interpreter translated.
Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified.
Duran was immediately taken into custody after sentencing. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will ask an appeals court for bail pending appeal, which would allow Duran to be freed while he challenges his conviction.
The case has animated police on one hand and accountability activists on the other. Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, says thousands of officers have signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison.
Officers in New York Police Department jackets streamed down a Bronx courthouse hallway ahead of the sentencing Thursday, while a couple of dozen protesters demonstrated outside to demand justice for Duprey.
Prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office sought a three-to-nine-year prison sentence for Duran, saying he recklessly caused Duprey’s death.
Duran was part of a narcotics policing group that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.
Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk toward a group of people. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn’t in uniform — picked up a bystander’s cooler and threw it.
The container full of ice, water and sodas struck Duprey. He lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey, 30, wasn’t wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors.
They argued Duran had enough time to warn others to move but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry.
Duran, however, testified at his trial that he made a split-second decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them.
Duran opted to have Mitchell, not a jury, decide the case.
Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong has said the conviction sent “a terrible message to hard-working cops” about the costs of defending themselves and fellow officers.
Duran was an NYPD officer for 13 years before he was suspended after the crash. He was dismissed from the force after his conviction this past February.
Duprey worked as a delivery driver and had three young children. His mother, Gretchen Soto, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, has disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers.
She told the judge Thursday her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.”
Oregon
Appellate ruling in PacifiCorp case could jeopardize $1 billion in wildfire victim damages
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon appeals court sided with PacifiCorp on Wednesday in a ruling that could possibly jeopardize over $1 billion in damages for victims of the state’s devastating 2020 wildfires.
The Oregon Court of Appeals sent the class-action case back to a lower trial court over concerns about a jury instruction given during a 2023 trial. In that trial, jurors found the utility liable for negligently failing to cut power despite warnings from top fire officials and determined it should have to pay punitive and other damages — a decision that applied to a class of property owners.
Since then, other juries have ordered PacifiCorp to pay over $1 billion in damages to a class that includes thousands of members.
In the ruling, a three-judge appellate panel found that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that it could assume that the evidence presented at trial regarding four different wildfires applied to all class members.
“We conclude that ... that instruction was legally erroneous, because certain evidence at trial, particularly related to causation, did not necessarily apply to every class member,” the judges wrote. “We further conclude that giving the instruction was prejudicial to PacifiCorp. Consequently, we reverse and remand.”
The judges noted that members of the class included the owners of over 2,000 parcels of property damaged by the different fires, “certain of which were separated by well over a hundred miles.” The blazes included the Santiam Canyon fire in northwestern Oregon; the Echo Mountain Complex fire near the coast; and the South Obenchain and 242 fires in southwestern Oregon.
The 2020 Labor Day weekend fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history. They killed 11 people, burned more than 1,560 square miles (4,040 square kilometers) and destroyed thousands of homes.
It remained unclear how the case would move forward and whether attorneys for the plaintiffs would appeal the decision to the state supreme court. More than 1,000 class members have cases set for trial in 2026 and 2027.
In a statement, lead counsel for the plaintiffs said the decision was a “procedural setback” and that “nothing in this ruling suggests the jury got it wrong.”
“In fact, the Court rejected PacifiCorp’s efforts to win this appeal on the merits. Instead, what the court addressed was a single jury instruction, charting several paths forward — including fixing that instruction and trying the case again.”
Separately, PacifiCorp has agreed to pay over $2 billion to settle claims stemming from a series of lawsuits it has faced over the 2020 blazes, including $575 million to the federal government for wildfire damages on federal land in Oregon and California.
In February, PacifiCorp announced plans to sell its wind, natural gas generation and distribution assets and infrastructure in Washington state to Portland General Electric Company for $1.9 billion to help stabilize its finances. Even though it is appealing wildfire judgments against it, PacifiCorp has had to post bonds with the court, which has put a crunch on its cash flow.
Former officer gets 3 to 9 years in prison for throwing cooler in fatal crash
NEW YORK (AP) — A former New York City police sergeant was sentenced Thursday to three to nine years in prison for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died.
The ex-officer, Erik Duran, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of Eric Duprey. The former sergeant said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter.
“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash,” Duran told the court Thursday, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man’s injuries.
“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, addressing Duprey’s family directly in Spanish that a court interpreter translated.
Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified.
Duran was immediately taken into custody after sentencing. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will ask an appeals court for bail pending appeal, which would allow Duran to be freed while he challenges his conviction.
The case has animated police on one hand and accountability activists on the other. Duran’s union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, says thousands of officers have signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison.
Officers in New York Police Department jackets streamed down a Bronx courthouse hallway ahead of the sentencing Thursday, while a couple of dozen protesters demonstrated outside to demand justice for Duprey.
Prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office sought a three-to-nine-year prison sentence for Duran, saying he recklessly caused Duprey’s death.
Duran was part of a narcotics policing group that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.
Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk toward a group of people. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn’t in uniform — picked up a bystander’s cooler and threw it.
The container full of ice, water and sodas struck Duprey. He lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey, 30, wasn’t wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors.
They argued Duran had enough time to warn others to move but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry.
Duran, however, testified at his trial that he made a split-second decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them.
Duran opted to have Mitchell, not a jury, decide the case.
Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent Vallelong has said the conviction sent “a terrible message to hard-working cops” about the costs of defending themselves and fellow officers.
Duran was an NYPD officer for 13 years before he was suspended after the crash. He was dismissed from the force after his conviction this past February.
Duprey worked as a delivery driver and had three young children. His mother, Gretchen Soto, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, has disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers.
She told the judge Thursday her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.”
Oregon
Appellate ruling in PacifiCorp case could jeopardize $1 billion in wildfire victim damages
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon appeals court sided with PacifiCorp on Wednesday in a ruling that could possibly jeopardize over $1 billion in damages for victims of the state’s devastating 2020 wildfires.
The Oregon Court of Appeals sent the class-action case back to a lower trial court over concerns about a jury instruction given during a 2023 trial. In that trial, jurors found the utility liable for negligently failing to cut power despite warnings from top fire officials and determined it should have to pay punitive and other damages — a decision that applied to a class of property owners.
Since then, other juries have ordered PacifiCorp to pay over $1 billion in damages to a class that includes thousands of members.
In the ruling, a three-judge appellate panel found that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that it could assume that the evidence presented at trial regarding four different wildfires applied to all class members.
“We conclude that ... that instruction was legally erroneous, because certain evidence at trial, particularly related to causation, did not necessarily apply to every class member,” the judges wrote. “We further conclude that giving the instruction was prejudicial to PacifiCorp. Consequently, we reverse and remand.”
The judges noted that members of the class included the owners of over 2,000 parcels of property damaged by the different fires, “certain of which were separated by well over a hundred miles.” The blazes included the Santiam Canyon fire in northwestern Oregon; the Echo Mountain Complex fire near the coast; and the South Obenchain and 242 fires in southwestern Oregon.
The 2020 Labor Day weekend fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history. They killed 11 people, burned more than 1,560 square miles (4,040 square kilometers) and destroyed thousands of homes.
It remained unclear how the case would move forward and whether attorneys for the plaintiffs would appeal the decision to the state supreme court. More than 1,000 class members have cases set for trial in 2026 and 2027.
In a statement, lead counsel for the plaintiffs said the decision was a “procedural setback” and that “nothing in this ruling suggests the jury got it wrong.”
“In fact, the Court rejected PacifiCorp’s efforts to win this appeal on the merits. Instead, what the court addressed was a single jury instruction, charting several paths forward — including fixing that instruction and trying the case again.”
Separately, PacifiCorp has agreed to pay over $2 billion to settle claims stemming from a series of lawsuits it has faced over the 2020 blazes, including $575 million to the federal government for wildfire damages on federal land in Oregon and California.
In February, PacifiCorp announced plans to sell its wind, natural gas generation and distribution assets and infrastructure in Washington state to Portland General Electric Company for $1.9 billion to help stabilize its finances. Even though it is appealing wildfire judgments against it, PacifiCorp has had to post bonds with the court, which has put a crunch on its cash flow.
