{"id":35408,"date":"2025-11-10T22:03:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T22:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/35408\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T22:03:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T22:03:28","slug":"nypd-judge-recommends-no-disciplinary-charges-against-cop-in-fatal-road-rage-shooting-of-unarmed-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/35408\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD judge recommends no disciplinary charges against cop in fatal road rage shooting of unarmed man"},"content":{"rendered":"

An NYPD administrative law judge has recommended dismissal of disciplinary charges against a cop who fatally shot<\/a> an unarmed driver in a Brooklyn road rage clash nine years ago, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

Rosemary Maldonado<\/a>, the department\u2019s deputy commissioner for trials, concluded that because Officer Wayne Isaacs was off duty when he shot Delrawn Small on July 4, 2016, in East New York, the Civilian Complaint Review Board<\/a> does not have jurisdiction to pursue the case.<\/p>\n

The legal precedents underlying the CCRB assertion it could prosecute an off-duty cop were based on the fact that officers in those prior cases explicitly invoked their police powers. Isaacs, Maldonado concluded, did not.<\/p>\n

The decision, if endorsed by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, could effectively end the disciplinary case just nine days before Isaacs was scheduled to go on administrative trial at police headquarters after a remarkably protracted legal battle waged across the tenures of seven police commissioners.<\/p>\n

NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs leaves court during a break between the defense and the peoples cross exam<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs leaves court in 2017. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

But the CCRB argued Monday there is a contradiction in Maldonado\u2019s decision because Isaacs had claimed he was acting as a cop to obtain city legal representation in a separate civil lawsuit filed by Small\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeputy Commissioner Maldonado is recommending the case be dismissed because PO Isaacs allegedly didn\u2019t invoke his authority as a police officer during the encounter, despite having claimed that he acted as a police officer when sued by Mr. Small\u2019s family,\u201d said Dakota Gardner, a CCRB spokesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommissioner Tisch has said she takes her commitment to discipline seriously, and we are confident she will overrule DCT Maldonado and will let this case proceed to trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CCRB also argued Isaacs invoked his police powers by using his NYPD-issue service weapon in the shooting.<\/p>\n

Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, cast the case as a referendum on the broader authority of the CCRB.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs appears in court, Wednesday. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are glad that the trial commissioner has struck down yet another attempt by CCRB to bend the law and increase its own power,\u201d Hendry said. \u201cCCRB\u2019s constant overreach into matters beyond its jurisdiction isn\u2019t an accident \u2014 it is part of a coordinated campaign to take full control of the NYPD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small\u2019s siblings, Victoria Davis and Victor Dempsey, immediately blasted the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor over nine years, every part of this system has worked overtime to protect Officer Isaacs at our family\u2019s expense,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: this latest recommendation to dismiss charges isn\u2019t about \u2018jurisdiction\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s a bogus, manufactured excuse to protect a murderer in uniform. And it\u2019s just the latest example of how the NYPD, the police unions, the courts, and city agencies bend over backwards to deny every shred of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small, 37, was with his infant son, step-daughter and girlfriend when his car was cut off several times by Isaacs.<\/p>\n

Small, who was unarmed, crossed two lanes of traffic to confront Isaacs in his car on Atlantic Ave. near Bradford St. Almost as soon as he reached Isaacs\u2019 window, the officer shot him three times, striking him in the chest.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City students and youth activists participate in a 2019 news conference and rally to commemorate the lives of Eric Garner and Delrawn Small, both of whom were killed by police in different incidents. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

New York City students and youth activists participate in a 2019 news conference and rally to commemorate the lives of Eric Garner and Delrawn Small, both of whom were killed by police in different incidents. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)A long legal battle followed in several different courts. First, Isaacs was charged and tried by the state Attorney General\u2019s office as the first case prosecuted by that office under then-Gov. Cuomo\u2019s executive order giving the AG\u2019s office the power to investigate police-involved deaths.<\/p>\n

Isaacs, who maintained he acted in self-defense, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter<\/a> at trial in November 2017. The NYPD\u2019s Force Investigation Division then cleared him following an investigation and then-Police Commissioner James O\u2019Neill signed off in 2018.<\/p>\n

In October 2020, the CCRB brought a new disciplinary case against Isaacs, charges that weren\u2019t served by the NYPD for roughly a year. Then-Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the department would not block<\/a> the CCRB\u2019s effort to try Isaacs.<\/p>\n

The PBA sued to prevent the disciplinary trial but the lawsuit was dismissed.<\/p>\n

\"DelrawnDelrawn Small’s companion Zaquanna Albert, left, and his brother Victor Demsey, right, joined by members of Families United for Justice, an organization made up of families affected by police killings, in 2016.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Isaacs\u2019 lawyers refused to provide the CCRB access to the sealed case file in the Attorney General\u2019s failed prosecution. In March 2023, a Brooklyn judge granted<\/a> the CCRB\u2019s unsealing motion. Isaacs\u2019 lawyers appealed. Last March, an appellate panel ruled in favor of Isaacs.<\/p>\n

In September, the NYPD finally scheduled his disciplinary trial for Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

With Maldonado\u2019s recommendation, the case now returns to Tisch, amounting to yet another test of the often fraught interplay between the NYPD and the CCRB on disciplinary matters.<\/p>\n

Isaacs remains on full duty assigned to the office of the Chief of Special Operations<\/a>\u00a0 where he has been since 2018, NYPD records show. Despite the long public chronology of his case, the department\u2019s online personnel database lists no disciplinary history.<\/p>\n

He earned $218,327 including his base salary of $105,146 in fiscal year 2024 and $155,509 including a base salary of $109,352 in fiscal year 2025, which ended June 30, records show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An NYPD administrative law judge has recommended dismissal of disciplinary charges against a cop who fatally shot an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-35408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-news","11":"tag-city","12":"tag-county","13":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-county","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-nyc-crime","22":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}