Islanders fans rallied behind jailed ex-NYPD Sgt. Erick Duran at Tuesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Long Island – giving cash to help boost a newly launched legal fund aimed at overturning his controversial conviction.
The fundraising push by the NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association was shown on the jumbotron at UBS Arena in Nassau County, nearly a week after the former cop was sent to prison for manslaughter after fatally hurling a cooler at a fleeing drug suspect in August 2023.
“This is all about Erik’s family,” said union head Vincent Vallelong, who was joined at the game by Post executive Patrick Judge, Islanders co-owner Jon Ledecky and other SBA members.
“Whatever it takes to get him out, is exactly what it is everyone on this board believes and everybody in law enforcement is going to do at this point. The message is that basically, this is going to affect law enforcement across the nation. They all feel that this can happen in their cities.”
Islanders fans were given the option to donate directly to the fund, which had already raised $40,000 as of Tuesday morning, via a QR code displayed on the jumbotron.
A portion of Tuesday night’s 50/50 raffle that took in nearly $45,000 will also go toward the legal fund launched Monday by the SBA to help Duran appeal his conviction.
Duran, a 38-year-old married father of three, was sentenced to 3-to-9 years behind bars by Bronx Judge Guy Mitchell on Thursday for throwing a full Igloo cooler at Eric Duprey, 30, as he drove his moped on a Highbridge sidewalk while scrambling to escape a drug bust.
Duran testified in his own defense at the 3-week trial — a case brought by the state Attorney General’s Office — that he chucked the cooler to protect the lives of other cops in the path of the suspect’s scooter.
Mitchell, who found that Duran’s use of deadly force was not justifiable, convicted him of second-degree manslaughter in the non-jury trial and handed down the hotly disputed sentence.
“I absolutely love that the Islanders support law enforcement, especially in this case,” Longtime Nassau cop Craig Kasin, who bought a 50/50 ticket remotely while at Yankee Stadium, told The Post, calling Duran’s actions an “instinct decision.”
“He didn’t take out his gun and shoot him … it’s deplorable that this judge is setting him to more time to set an example. These officers are under such a tremendous amount of stress to begin with. This isn’t right.”
Duran, who faced anywhere from probation to up to 15 years in prison, was hauled off to Rikers Island, where he is being held in protective custody and expected to be transferred to a state facility.
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