Screenshot by Síle Moloney
Black Lives Matter of Greater New Yorker (BLMGNY) failed to meet with Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch at NYPD headquarters in Lower Manhattan on Monday, April 20, to discuss a list of policing-related demands, including an apology from the NYPD for the manslaughter by former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran of Bronx father Eric Duprey in the Fordham Manor section of The Bronx in August 2023. They said they came prepared with solutions but were turned away. They later called for Tisch to be fired, alleging she is “unfit.”
Prior to the press conference, Hawk Newsome, one of the cofounders of BLMGNY, had said, “We are going into One Police Plaza to do the work of the people. It is unacceptable that after the sentencing of Eric Duran, there has been no outreach or sympathy expressed to the Duprey family from the commissioner’s office. We are there to demand human decency and administrative accountability. This is not a symbolic meeting; we are there to ensure that the patterns of the past, where officers with 15+ complaints are left on the street to beat people like Timothy Brown, come to an end.” Brown was reportedly incorrected targeted by police as a suspect during a police-involved incident in Brooklyn last week.
Chivona Newsome, also a cofounder of BLMGNY, had said prior to the press conference, “We fully intend to represent the community that is tired of silence and tired of excuses. By demanding independent audits and psychological evaluations, we are bringing real solutions to the table. We will report directly to the people at 11:30 AM to let them know exactly where the commissioner stands on these demands.”
As reported, on Friday, Feb. 6, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the conviction of Duran, of Putnam County, also a father, on the charge of manslaughter in the second degree in relation to Duprey’s death, following a bench trial (no jury) before Judge Guy Mitchell at Bronx Criminal Court.
On Thursday, April 9, Duran, 38, of Putnam County was sentenced to between 3 to 9 years for causing Duprey’s death, which occurred during an NYPD undercover drug bust operation.
Screenshot by Síle Moloney
For more on Duprey’s death and Duran’s conviction, click here, here, here, here, and here. Following the sentencing, the defense announced it was appealing.
On April 13, The New York Post reported that, if elected, Republican, gubernatorial candidate and presumptive nominee Bruce Blakeman promised to pardon Duran. BLMGNY later responded in part, writing, “The promise by Bruce Blakeman to pardon a convicted killer at ’12:01 AM’ is not a policy proposal; it is a desperate political stunt designed to catapult a failing gubernatorial campaign at the expense of human life and judicial integrity. This is not a matter of ‘Blue versus Red.’ This is a matter of Right versus Wrong.”
Their statement continued, “For the first time in thirty years, the ‘Blue Wall’ of silence and immunity has crumbled. The sentencing of Erik Duran to 3 to 9 years in prison represents a historic shift in New York justice. For three decades, a badge served as a license to kill without consequence. Judge Guy Mitchell [the presiding judge in the Duran case], a veteran jurist, with extensive experience in the Bronx District Attorney’s office prosecuting homicides, a former chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Virgin Islands overseeing narcotics and corruption, and a former special assistant attorney general, conducted a fair and exhaustive review of the facts.”
BLMGNY added, “He rightly concluded that throwing a cooler at a moving motorist was not an act of ‘fear’ but an act of frustration that cost Eric Duprey his life.” BLMGNY went on to say, “While Mr. Blakeman claims to champion ‘Law and Order,’ he conveniently ignores the systemic rot and ‘color of corruption’ currently plaguing the NYPD. If Mr. Blakeman were truly concerned with justice, he would address the following:
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The Sexual Assault Crisis: Last month, NYPD Officer Daheem Morris was indicted for rape and sexual abuse in Brooklyn yet was released without bail. [Morris is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.]
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The Probation Loophole: In January, former officers Julio Alcantara-Santiago and Christian Garcia were sentenced for the sexual abuse of an intoxicated woman in The Bronx, yet they walked away with probation only, avoiding the prison time their crimes deserved.
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Systemic Corruption: From bribery scams to documented witness tampering and cover-ups, the department is currently reeling from scandals that undermine the very safety Mr. Blakeman claims to protect.”
BLACK LIVES MATTER of Greater New York (BLM) holds a press conference outside NYPD HQ at One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan on Monday, 4/20/26, after failing to speak to NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to discuss various demands, including an apology for the killing of Eric Duprey by now former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran in August 2023 in the Fordham Manor section of The Bronx. V1 Video by Síle Moloney
BLMGNY concluded, “To promise a pardon for an officer convicted of manslaughter while survivors of sexual assault watch their attackers walk free is an insult to every New Yorker. Bruce Blakeman is using a great tragedy and a grieving family as a stepping stone. We will not allow the progress of the last five years, the move toward true accountability and the dismantling of state-sanctioned murder, to be undone by political theater. The wall is falling. We intend to keep it that way.”
On Friday, April 17, in relation to Duran’s case, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) said in part, “I am very pleased to announce that the SBA’s team of attorneys have secured bail for Erik Duran and he will be released from prison and will remain free throughout his appeal.” The organization added, “This a major win for Erik and his family and for law enforcement officers around the country! The fight is not over though. We are still encouraging law enforcement officers across the country to continue donating to the defense fund.” Black Lives Matter had campaigned and called for Duran to remain in custody throughout his appeal.
Hawk Newsome and Chivona Newsome, who, as reported, previously ran for Congress in New York’s 15 congressional district, were joined on Monday by Rev. Kevin McCall, a social justice activist based in Brooklyn, for the press conference outside One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan to discuss their list of policing-related demands.
In reference to Duran’s release on bail, Hawk Newsome said in part, “You never hear about everyday New Yorkers being released on bail after being convicted for a homicide, especially a week later.” He also decried the $300,000 bail that had been set for Duran, describing it as “a slap in the face” for a convicted killer.
Among other topics, BLMGNY decried the thousands of dollars spent on NYPD lawsuit settlements, money which they said could be pumped into schools and education. Hawk Newsome said BLMGNY received word on their way to Monday’s meeting through McCall, described as “a mediator,” that the NYPD community affairs team (and not Tisch) would meet with them, an invitation he said they declined.
BLACK LIVES MATTER of Greater New York (BLM) holds a press conference outside NYPD HQ at One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan on Monday, 4/20/26, after failing to speak to NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to discuss various demands, including an apology for the killing of Eric Duprey by now former NYPD Sgt. Erik Duran in August 2023 in the Fordham Manor section of The Bronx. V2 Video by Síle Moloney
During the press conference, Hawk Newsome said a Monday morning meeting with Tisch had been scheduled but that BLMGNY were turned away. Norwood News reached out to the NYPD to ask whether the meeting had indeed been scheduled and for a comment on what BLM described as “a formal list of community demands regarding systemic police misconduct and the department’s failure to acknowledge the human toll of officer violence.” We did not receive an immediate response.
Meanwhile, the initial list of demands included the following:
- an apology by Tisch to the family of Eric Duprey for his death and a formal apology for the department’s “failure to reach out to the family following the conviction and sentencing of Eric Duran;”
- immediate termination of the officers involved in what they said was the brutal beating of Timothy Brown in Brooklyn last week [by NYPD officers];
- alleging that the NYPD employees in the Timothy Brown case and the Eric Duran case had histories of over 15 complaints against them, an independent body to audit any officer with 15 or more complaints;
- mandatory, independent psychological evaluations for all officers with excessive civilian complaints to determine their fitness for duty;
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proposals for how the NYPD should police NYC communities this summer, with priority for the safety of residents over what BLMGNY allege is aggressive, targeted enforcement of community gatherings.
Photo courtesy of Partisan Defense Committee
As reported, prior to Duran’s sentencing, BLMGNY had visited the offices of various Bronx elected officials, including the Office of the Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, asking them to send a letter to the presiding judge in Duran’s case to ask for the maximum sentence for Duran i.e. 15 years. Gibson was unavailable at her office when BLM visited on April 7.
At an unrelated subsequent Bronx event on April 16, a representative for Gibson’s office, David Coulibaly, told Norwood News that prior to BLM’s visit to her office, representatives for the borough president had reached out to Black Lives Matter to arrange a meeting with them and BLM had not responded.
During Monday’s press conference at NYPD HQ Norwood News asked for a comment on this. Hawk Newsome responded, saying, “I don’t know what Black Lives Matter they reached out to. Vanessa Gibson has my sister’s personal phone number. See here’s the problem we have with government.”
He continued, “When we work on the Duprey case, we run a leadership institute for at-risk teens, the same ones everyone’s running around that’s worried about shooting up things. We run leadership institutes. Every year, those students reached out to different politicians, Vanessa Gibson, Sheneneh Jenkins (?), all of them, ok? They reached out to all of these people and they receive no response, so I would call them liars if they say they reached out to us. This year, after saying for years, there is no hope trying to have conversations with this system, we tried and they spat in our faces.”
Hawk Newsome went on to allege that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had remained silent on the Duran case. He also alleged that if Tisch could be hired as police commissioner with “no law enforcement experience” to run the NYPD, “then other people could evaluate them [the NYPD] in the same way,” alluding to a proposal to appoint an independent person with the last word to oversee and review alleged police misconduct, something he had also called for.
In fact, prior to her appointment in 2024 as police commissioner, Tisch had worked for the NYPD for 12 years. Starting in 2008, she worked in the counterterrorism bureau and as the deputy commissioner for information technology from 2014 to 2019, where she developed the domain awareness system and the NYPD’s body camera program.
Meanwhile, the CCRB is an independent agency empowered to receive, investigate, mediate, hear, make findings, and recommend action on complaints against New York City police officers alleging the use of excessive or unnecessary force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, or the use of offensive language. The Board’s investigative staff, composed entirely of civilian employees, conducts investigations in an impartial fashion. The Board currently forwards its findings to the police commissioner.
Watch Monday’s press conference in the attached YouTube clips. Following the press conference, BLMGNY released an updated list, which included the following additional demands:
“I. ADMINISTRATIVE ACCOUNTABILITY & DISCIPLINARY REFORM
- Adjudication of Stalled Disciplinary Trials: The Department must schedule the disciplinary trial for Wayne Isaacs regarding the killing of Delrawn Small, which has been delayed for 10 years. Additionally, all “old cases” currently held in abeyance must be heard to ensure accountability.
- Cession of Disciplinary Power to the CCRB: The Commissioner should formally recommend that ultimate disciplinary power reside within the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) to eliminate the “Blue Wall” that protects misconduct.”
As reported, even when the CCRB has made recommendations in the past following police misconduct allegations, those recommendations have not always been acted on by the prevailing police commissioner. This was the case for Bronxite Kawaski Trawick, who was killed by police on April 14, 2019, inside his supportive housing apartment located at at 1616 Grand Avenue in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx, and the same was also true in the case of Allan Feliz, killed by police in Norwood in October 2019.
Meanwhile, as reported, on July 24, 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) released its report on July 24 on the death of Bronxite, Kyle Lockett, 21, who was fatally shot by police on Nov. 3, 2022 on the corner of Gun Hill Road and Hull Avenue in the Norwood section of The Bronx.
Following what was described as a thorough investigation, including a review of nearby security camera footage, interviews with involved officers, and comprehensive legal analysis, OSI officials concluded that “a prosecutor would not be able to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that the officers’ actions against Mr. Lockett were justified under New York law.”
Kyle’s death followed a dispute with 29-year-old Ajamu Demmerle inside a local deli during which officers from the Queens Warrant Squad, who were in an unmarked police vehicle investigating an unrelated incident nearby, intervened. Read more here. Demmerle is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.
Meanwhile, BLMGNY’s demands also included the following:
“II. LEGISLATIVE MANDATE: THE BLUE WALL ACT
To combat the systemic culture of silence and the pervasive falsification of government documents, we demand the Department’s endorsement of the Blue Wall Act. This legislation mandates:
- Criminalization of Official Misinformation: Establish criminal prosecution for any officer who intentionally falsifies a government document or report.
- Duty to Report and Intervene: Codify statutory requirements for officers to report peer misconduct and intervene in instances of unauthorized force, ensuring a fair system that protects civilians rather than just colleagues.
- Administrative Recourse: Implement mechanisms for the permanent forfeiture of taxpayer-funded benefits for officers convicted of crimes committed under the color of law.
III. PROFESSIONAL FITNESS & TRANSPARENCY PROTOCOLS
- Independent Audits for “High-Complaint” Officers: Establish an independent entity outside the NYPD to audit any officer with 15 or more civilian complaints.
- Mandatory Psychological Evaluations: Mandatory psychological evaluations must be conducted for officers with excessive complaints to determine their fitness for duty.
- The “Eric Duran” Use-of-Force Policy: Explicitly prohibit the use of foreign objects as improvised weapons during arrests, ending “rogue movie style” tactics.
- Immediate Release of Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Footage: Mandate the immediate public release of BWC footage in all use-of-force incidents. The current policy of withholding video when officers are not “clearly innocent” is biased and must end.
Screenshot by Síle Moloney
IV. COMMUNITY SAFETY & STRATEGIC DATA TRANSPARENCY
To address the unconscionable spike in shootings targeting infants, adolescents, and the elderly, BLM GNY demands a partnership based on data-driven intervention:
- Provision of Crime Analytics: The NYPD must provide BLM GNY with granular data identifying the most dangerous blocks and high-activity corridors in the five boroughs.
- Collaborative Accountability: Transparency in this data allows community leaders to strategically deploy resources to protect our most vulnerable residents where traditional policing has failed.
V. COMMUNITY SOVEREIGNTY: THE SUMMER OF HOPE
The Summer of Hope is a community-led violence interruption model featuring block parties and educational resources to stabilize neighborhoods. This initiative previously led to a 40% decrease in shootings in target neighborhoods. To continue this work, we demand:
- Administrative Non-Obstruction: An immediate cessation of the bureaucratic obstruction regarding our permitting process.
- Cessation of Harassment: A formal directive must be issued to all units, particularly the Strategic Response Group (SRG), to cease the surveillance and harassment of our organizers.
- Operational Peace: We have demonstrated higher efficacy in violence reduction than traditional policing; we deserve to serve our community without antagonistic interference.
VI. LOCALIZED JUSTICE & INVESTIGATIVE PRIORITIES
- Deed Theft Task Force: Launch a full-scale investigation into the deed theft epidemic targeting Black homeowners in New York City.
- Relocation of Bronx Central Booking: Move the Bronx Central Booking facility from Sheridan Avenue to Sherman Avenue to protect students and restore community accessibility.
- Protection of Leadership: Identify and recommend for prosecution the specific officer who issued a death threat against the leadership of BLM GNY.
- Disbandment of the Strategic Response Group (SRG): Disband the SRG, as they act as primary antagonists.”
As reported, Black Lives Matter had previously referenced 17 complaints of prior misconduct that were allegedly reported/filed against Duran, citing the following website https://www.50-a.org/search?q=Erik+Duran as their source. Meanwhile, according to online NYPD records, Duran has no disciplinary records on his file.
Source: NYPD
Members of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the City of New York (SBA), including Vincent Vallelong, SBA president, and legal representatives for Duran held a press conference outside Bronx Criminal Court on the day Duran was sentenced, as did BLM and members of Duprey’s family and legal team, and Norwood News asked Vallelong about these 17 alleged complaints. As reported, he disputed them.
Norwood News also reached out to the Civilian Complaints Review Board (CCRB) regarding the alleged 17 complaints against Duran and CCRB also disputed the complaint numbers cited by BLMGNY. A total of seven complaints logged with CCRB in respect of Duran, with one substantiated, are attached.
According to the CCRB, the database allows users to view the record of NYPD misconduct allegations. The CCRB can recommend a level of police discipline, with the Police Commissioner retaining final authority over disciplinary decisions.
The CCRB advises as follows:
- “This database reflects CCRB complaints only. Allegations of misconduct that fall outside of the CCRB’s jurisdiction are not included in this database. The New York City Charter specifies that the CCRB’s jurisdiction includes four categories of police misconduct: Force, Abuse of Authority, Discourtesy, and Offensive Language.
- CCRB allegation history does not include open allegations, successfully mediated allegations or mediation attempted allegations. CCRB allegation history does not include allegations from complaints filed prior to the year 2000. It also does not include referrals to the NYPD or other investigative entities.
- There is a significant difference between the CCRB dispositions ‘Exonerated,’ ‘Unfounded,’ and ‘Unsubstantiated.’ When exploring the database, please refer to the definitions of the CCRB’s case outcomes.”
*Data as of 4/07/2026.
Norwood News had contacted the source website https://www.50-a.org/search?q=Erik+Duran cited by BLMGNY for the alleged 17 complaints, to ask for their sources for the complaints as presented on the site, and a representative replied saying in part that the complaints were compiled from a number of sources and contributors, including various CCRB records, various NYPD records, BuzzFeed’s NYPD Police Misconduct Database, The Legal Aid Society’s Law Enforcement Lookup and former CAPstat project, the NYPD Trial Decisions Library, various public lawsuit databases, the LatinoJustice PRLDEF CCRB Report, The Legal Aid Society Law Enforcement Lookup, and Gothamist/WNYC Adverse Credibility lists.
Source: NYPD
According to an extract from the https://www.50-a.org website, complaint records are incomplete, and another extract reads that the website contains 523,000 allegations from 182,000 complaints from the 1970s through April 2026, along with other records of 96,500 current and former police officers (covering several different police departments across the country).
The 50a.org website extract also notes that complaints where the CCRB has not yet completed an investigation are not yet available. It goes on to say that lawsuits list officers identified in a case who may have been dismissed prior to a final disposition. Also, according to the website, not all NYPD disciplinary records are available, and not all data sources can be associated with a specific officer. In addition, according to the website, not all police officers are listed.
As reported, Hawk Newsome was previously arrested in midtown Manhattan in September 2023 for protesting Duprey’s death without a permit. He said Monday that this time, they tried to have meetings but were ignored. He said they now intend to arrange more rallies and get churches involved.
Read some of our prior coverage of this case here, here, here, here, and here.
Source: NYPD
According to Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, it is an independent, multi-generational advocacy organization that remains unaffiliated with any global foundations, and focuses on the liberation, safety, and empowerment of the Black community through strategic policy advocacy, legal analysis, and community-led initiatives.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.