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Bronx death caused by NYPD officer knocking a man off a motorbike ruled a homicide as community mourns
By
Brittany Kriegstein
and
Catalina Gonella
Published Aug 25, 2023
Modified Aug 29, 2023
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Catalina Gonella/Gothamist
By
Brittany Kriegstein
and
Catalina Gonella
Published Aug 25, 2023
Modified Aug 29, 2023
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The Bronx neighborhood of Kingsbridge is still reeling from the death of Eric Duprey, 30, who was killed on Wednesday evening.
An NYPD sergeant reportedly threw a cooler at him while he was fleeing from police following a drug sale, causing him to fall off his motorbike, according to several media outlets and confirmed by surveillance video of the incident.
New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide Friday evening — with the cause of death deemed “blunt force injuries of head.”
Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, who represents District 14 which includes Kingsbridge, said her constituents are struggling to process the caught-on-video incident.
“The mood and the feeling is just pain,” Sanchez told Gothamist by phone on Friday. “There's a lot of shock. There's a lot of reignited trauma in the community.”
Sanchez said she knew something was very wrong when she received a personal call from NYPD officials Wednesday evening.
“They just said that there was an incident, and it sounded like it was bad and that they hadn't seen the video yet, but that they anticipated there would be backlash,” she recalled. “I knew that whatever did happen was very bad for them to have reached out to me personally.”
While Sanchez praised the police department’s swift movement to discipline Sgt. Erik Duran, she said residents want to see more accountability as a result of the incident.
“It seems like a bare minimum of acceptability that he was immediately suspended without pay – that helps the community. That is an acknowledgement from government, from the NYPD that what happened on Wednesday shouldn't have happened, right? And that’s a strong start.”
At a makeshift vigil near where Duprey died on Thursday, friends and family echoed that sentiment. Duprey’s wife, Orlyanis Velez said she was angry with the NYPD, adding she was glad they suspended Duran without pay but that more needed to be done.
“I'm so mad with New York City, the NYPD too … police is supposed to protect us,” Velez said. “But I want to make this clear: I want justice for my husband because they keep doing this. They keep doing this and doing this and keep going away. They don't go to jail. They don't pay for whatever they doing … They killed my husband.”
In councilmember Sanchez’ view, Duprey’s death shines a light on the complexity of life in a community like Kinsbridge, where economic opportunities are lacking, and law enforcement is a presence that’s necessary but not always trusted.
“There's two sides of this. On the one hand, I get calls all the time from parts of the community like this one, you know, from folks saying, ‘Hey, there's illegal activity, I don't feel safe." Sanchez said. “And on the other hand, I get the same kind of complaints that, ‘Look, I was stopped and frisked, I was pushed around, an officer spoke to me the wrong way.’”
New data from the New York Civil Liberties Union shows stop-and-frisks are rising during the Adams administration — with Kingsbridge and other Bronx precincts home to hotspots. A distrust of police was also palpable at Thursday’s vigil, where Duprey’s loved ones questioned the police’s narrative of the events that led to his death. Both his wife and sister Erika Duprey Soto told Gothamist that they never knew Duprey to sell drugs.
Eyewitness Jessica Lee was Duprey’s hairstylist and part of the community. She said NYPD officers have a reputation for acting inappropriately in the neighborhood.
“The cops over here, especially the DTs [detectives], they like to harass them,” she said Thursday. “Like every time they come, they think that, that — I don't know — they think like they hood, too. Like you have a profession. Stick to your profession. You a cop.”
Bahar Ostadan contributed reporting.
Clarification: This story and headline has been updated to clarify the sourcing on details leading up to Eric Duprey’s death. Several media outlets reported that undercover narcotics officers were running an operation to catch unsuspecting drug dealers and that Duprey was knocked off his motorbike by a cooler. NYPD has not confirmed those details.
Tagged
public safety
the bronx
Brittany Kriegstein
Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].
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Catalina Gonella
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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