LONDON (AP) — A transgender darts player said she's “not done fighting” after the sport's governing body enacted rules barring transgender women from women’s tournaments.
Noa-Lynn van Leuven of the Netherlands spoke out Thursday when the Darts Regulation Authority's new policy took effect.
"Apparently, I just got retired — not by choice, but because I’m no longer allowed to compete,” Van Leuven said in a video on her Instagram account.
The 29-year-old van Leuven had competed in the Women's Series of the Professional Darts Corporation. In 2024, she became the first transgender woman to play at the PDC World Darts Championship.
“I’ve worked so damn hard for years just to get here. I showed up, I competed. I respected the sport every game, every single day,” van Leuven said. “And now, with just one decision, I’m being told I don’t belong anymore. This isn’t just about me. This is another huge hit for the trans community.”
She will still be eligible for open PDC events.
It's not clear what van Leuven's legal options are, but in a written message with the video she added: “This isn’t the end. I’m just going back to the drawing board. I’m not done fighting.”
The DRA said in a statement Thursday that it began a review of its policies in 2025. It included commissioning a report from “an academic developmental biologist who has published several papers on sex and categories in sport. The DRA has also considered extensive legal advice.”
“As a result of its review, the DRA is satisfied that to achieve fair competition in darts, only biological females should be eligible to compete in women’s tournaments regulated by DRA Rules,” it said.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
FILE - Noa-Lynn van Leuven, of the Netherlands, takes part in a round one match at the World Darts Championships in London, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE - Noa-Lynn van Leuven, of the Netherlands, throws a dart as she takes part in a round one match at the World Darts Championships in London, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
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 ice and drinks at a fleeing suspect, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died.
Erik Duran, 38, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey. The ex-sergeant said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter. He is the first former NYPD officer sentenced to prison for an on-duty death in at least two decades.
“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash," Duran told a Bronx judge, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man's injuries.
“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, apologizing to Duprey's family in Spanish as a court interpreter translated.
Duprey's mother, Gretchen Soto, wept as Duran spoke. Earlier, she told the court: "There are no words to express what I feel.”
Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified, concluding that Duran hurled the cooler because he “was upset that Mr. Duprey was getting away.” If there was no cooler, the judge said, Duprey “would have driven by” Duran and “could’ve been captured another day.”
Duran was immediately taken into custody after sentencing. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will ask a court to free him on bail while he appeals.
"Nobody’s above the law” a woman shouted in a courthouse hallway after the sentence was announced.
Afterward, Soto and Duprey's partner, Pearl Velez, said they did not accept Duran’s apology.
“How you gonna say sorry now?” Velez said.
Duran's union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said thousands of officers signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison.
“Today will forever be the darkest day of our profession,” union president Vincent Vallelong said. Duran’s prison sentence, he said, “puts in the back of a police officer's mind that they can lose their freedom” for making a split-second decision.
Officers in NYPD jackets packed the courtroom gallery, while a couple dozen protesters outside demanded justice for Duprey.
Duran's sentence, less than the maximum of five to 15 years, matched what prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office had sought. The ex-sergeant recklessly caused Duprey's death and attempted to cover up his actions, prosecutor Joseph Bianco said.
Defense lawyer Andrew Quinn argued for no prison time, calling Duprey’s death the “unintended and tragic consequences” of a “reckless decision” Duran made in a span of 2.5 seconds.
Duran grew up in the Bronx and led a “model, exemplary life” prior to Duprey's death. A married father of three, he joined the NYPD because he wanted to make the borough “cleaner and safer for the kids who came after him,” Quinn said.
“He is now the cooler cop,” Quinn said.
Duran was part of a narcotics policing unit 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 struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey was not 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.
“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said then, adding “all I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.”
Duran opted to have Judge Mitchell, not a jury, decide the case.
Duran had worked for the NYPD for 13 years. He was suspended after the crash and fired after his conviction in February.
Duprey was a delivery driver and had three young children. 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.”
“It is an unjust incident," Soto said through a Spanish interpreter. "As a mother, I have to miss him now every day.”
Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
Former New York City police sergeant Erik Duran stands during his sentencing hearing at the Bronx County Hall of Justice Thursday, April 9, 2026, New York, for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, Eric Duprey, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)
Gretchen Soto, mother of Eric Duprey, and Black Lives Matter advocate Hawk Newsome are seen outside court following the sentencing of former New York City police sergeant Erik Duran at the Bronx County Hall of Justice Thursday, April 9, 2026, New York. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)
Former New York City police sergeant Erik Duran is seated during his sentencing hearing at the Bronx County Hall of Justice Thursday, April 9, 2026, New York, for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, Eric Duprey, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)
Demonstrators stand outside the Bronx County Hall of Justice in New York, Thursday, April 9, 2026, where former New York City police sergeant Erik Duran is set to be sentenced for tossing a picnic cooler full of drinks at a fleeing suspect, Eric Duprey, who then crashed his motorized scooter and died. (AP Photo/David Martin)
FILE - Gretchen Soto, the mother of Eric Duprey, speaks outside the Bronx Criminal Court in New York, Feb. 6, 2026, after New York police officer Erik Duran was convicted of manslaughter after he tossed a picnic cooler filled with drinks at a fleeing Duprey, causing him to fatally crash his motorized scooter. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)
FILE - New York police officer Erik Duran, who is charged with hurling a plastic cooler at a man fleeing officers on a motorized scooter, causing a crash that killed the driver, arrives to his manslaughter trial at the Bronx Criminal Court in New York, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur, File)
