Thursday, October 1, 2026
Every day, police officers put on a blue uniform and patrol the streets to protect the innocent and the vulnerable. It’s imperative that we have their backs.
Unfortunately, a liberal judge in New York has handed down a sentence against an officer that will have a chilling effect on every law enforcement member who wants to do what it takes to protect the public. Officers will be fearful that if a spur-of-the-moment decision to collar a perp is twisted by an activist judge, they could lose their home, their job or even their freedom.
Earlier this month, New York Police Department Sgt. Erik Duran was sentenced to three to nine years in prison for stopping a suspected drug dealer by hurling an ice cooler in his direction as the suspect was fleeing the scene on a motor scooter. The suspect fell to the ground, and subsequently died of the injuries he sustained.
I’m old enough to remember movies and television shows when I was growing up on which a police officer would warn a fleeing suspect, “Stop or I’ll shoot.” No one was surprised by that back then, because it was understood that as a criminal, you assumed the risk if you recklessly decided to ignore an officer’s command and run from being apprehended after committing a crime.
Obviously, our pursuit policies have evolved since then, but the principle of snagging a criminal before he or she gets away to hurt others should never be eliminated.
Duran was part of an undercover police narcotics unit, and the suspect, Eric Duprey, was allegedly selling drugs and tried to flee from the officers at the scene. Duran saw him getting away, so he reflexively, and in good faith, tossed a nearby cooler in Duprey’s path to impede his getaway. It’s similar to the police procedure of tapping the rear of a fleeing vehicle in a high-speed chase. For the sake of public safety, it’s important to stop the reckless suspect from inflicting further damage on innocents.
And sometimes, things can go astray. But when they do, should our policy be to imprison the officer who was merely trying to enforce the law and protect society from a violent criminal roaming free to do more harm?
Indeed, sometimes offices hired to protect us make the wrong split-second decision. When they do, we have to consider their intent. Was it malicious? Was it a gratuitous attempt to inflict unnecessary violence on a suspect? Or was it a good-faith attempt to protect the public that just crossed a line? If the intent was malicious or involves self-interest, then certainly a criminal penalty should apply. But when the officer was simply trying to protect the public, why in the world would we charge him with a crime and put him behind bars?
If the action was clearly wrong, the officer could be disciplined by losing his job, and the Police Department and its municipality could be sued by those who were injured. But putting an officer in jail when he was simply trying to collar a bad guy is reprehensible. It is horrific not just because of the impact it will have on the officer and his family, but also because it will make society less safe, as officers think twice about going the extra yard to protect us.
The state attorney general prosecuted Duran, and sought a prison term of up to 15 years. To put this in perspective, two protesters who tossed Molotov cocktails into a police car during the riots in the summer of 2020 received 12- to 15-month sentences.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has been dead silent on the issue, but Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is opposing Hochul in this year’s gubernatorial election, has vowed to pardon Duran if he is elected. Such a pardon would send a message to our officers that you won’t be punished for good-faith efforts to protect us from those who wish us harm.
Steve Levy is president of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He has served as Suffolk County executive, as a state assemblyman and as host of the podcast “On the Right Side,” and is the author of “Solutions to America’s Problems” and “Bias in the Media.”
