In response to Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado’s recommendation to dismiss charges against Officer Wayne Isaacs, who shot and killed Delrawn Small in 2016, Victoria Davis and Victor Dempsey, Mr. Small’s sister and brother, released the following statement:
“We are furious and heartbroken by the Deputy Commissioner’s recommendation to dismiss charges against Officer Wayne Isaacs for killing our brother in front of his then four-month-old baby and teenage stepdaughter nearly a decade ago. For over nine years, every part of this system has worked overtime to protect Officer Isaacs at our family’s expense.
Let’s be clear: this latest recommendation to dismiss charges isn’t about ‘jurisdiction’ – it’s a bogus, manufactured excuse to protect a murderer in uniform. And it’s 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. At first, they claimed Isaacs was acting as a cop so the City would use taxpayer dollars to settle our civil suit – and even though they dragged their feet for a year, the NYPD served the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s (CCRB) charges to Isaacs four years ago. Now, they’re arguing Isaacs was off-duty and acting as a civilian to block his disciplinary trial – just weeks ahead of when it should finally start. The NYPD is only allowing these contradictions to stand because protecting killer cops matters more to them than Delrawn’s life and our family.
There is truly no justification for why an officer who shot and killed an unarmed New Yorker is still employed and collecting a paycheck — and, due to these intentional delays - will be receiving a pension from our taxpayer dollars.
Commissioner Tisch saw through Isaacs’ and his police union’s tired tactic of trying to get her to retain the case: she already rejected that request last month. Tisch’s Deputy Commissioner fell for Isaacs’ attorneys’ legal antics – but Tisch must not. She can continue the NYPD’s corrupt culture of impunity, or she can finally do what should’ve happened in 2016: fire Wayne Isaacs. No more delays. No more legal games. No more protection for killer cops.
Our family has already fought through two mayoral administrations and seven police commissioners since Delrawn was killed. We are not going anywhere. We’re calling on every New Yorker who believes in basic justice to join us in demanding that Commissioner Tisch immediately reject this recommendation, uphold the charges and upcoming disciplinary trial, and fire Officer Isaacs once and for all — and that Mayor-elect Mamdani stand with our family in making sure it happens.”
Loyda Colón (they/them), Executive Director of the Justice Committee, said:
“The NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado’s outrageous recommendation to dismiss charges against Officer Wayne Isaacs for murdering Delrawn Small flies in the face of logic and the law. Isaacs and his police union attorneys have spent over nine years trying to twist the law to escape accountability. When it benefited Isaacs, his lawyers argued he was acting as a cop to excuse his violence. The State Attorney General’s office prosecuted Isaacs for murder under executive order 147 – indicating that the AG determined he was acting as a police officer as well. A federal court ruled that the City had to indemnify Isaacs because he was acting under the color of the law. Now, only two weeks before Isaacs’ long-overdue disciplinary trial, Isaacs’ lawyers are making the exact opposite claim to stop the discipline process from moving forward. Deputy Commissioner Maldonado may have fallen for their games, but Commissioner Tisch must see through this hypocrisy, uphold all charges, and ensure Isaacs’ disciplinary trial proceeds as planned. Failing to do so would confirm that the NYPD remains committed to shielding violent officers instead of protecting New Yorkers.
BACKGROUND:
On July 4, 2016 Officer Wayne Isaacs shot and killed Delrawn Small in front of his four-month-old son, step-daughter and girlfriend. Isaacs had been driving erratically down Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn and had cut Mr. Small’s car off several times. When Mr. Small approached Isaacs’ car, Isaacs - who was off-duty at the time - fired his weapon out of the window, shot Mr. Small three times, and left him to bleed out in the street without offering any aid, all in plain view of Mr. Small’s family. Mr. Small was 37-years-old and unarmed.
Officer Isaacs was charged and prosecuted for murder by the NYS Attorney General’s office in the first case the office prosecuted after Governor Cuomo's 2015 executive order authorizing the AG to investigate police killings. The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) substantiated fireable misconduct charges against Officer Isaacs in October 2020, but the NYPD delayed serving the charges for almost a year. In October 2021, after Isaacs refused to give the CCRB access, the CCRB was forced to file a motion to unseal Isaacs’ murder trial records. In February 2022, the New York State Supreme Court Judge Verna L. Saunders dismissed NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs’ Article 78 lawsuit, filed in March 2021, the police union’s baseless attempt to block his long-delayed discipline trial. In March 2023, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Danny Chun finally ruled in favor of the CCRB’s unsealing motion, but Isaacs’ attorneys immediately appealed the decision. In March 2025, the Supreme Court Second Appellate Division ruled in favor of the police union’s appeal. In September 2025, Isaacs’ discipline trial was scheduled for November 19. In response, Isaacs and his police union attorneys once again requested the NYPD Commissioner invoke provision 2 in an effort to block the CCRB’s prosecution of Isaacs and to delay the disciplinary trial – a request that Commissioner Tisch denied, as did former Commissioner Sewell in March 2022. In response to Isaacs’ attorneys’ motion, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado has recommended all charges be dismissed against Officer Isaacs and canceled the scheduled trial. The decision to follow Maldonado’s recommendation, or to uphold the charges and allow Isaacs’ discipline trial to proceed, is now in the hands of Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Officer Isaacs killed Mr. Small just one day before Alton Sterling was killed by police in Louisiana and two days prior to Philando Castile being killed by police in Minnesota. Officers in both cases are no longer with their respective police departments, while the NYPD still employs Isaacs.
About Justice Committee
Since the 1980s, the Justice Committee (JC) has been dedicated to building a movement against police violence and systemic racism in New York City. The heart of our work is organizing and uplifting the leadership of families who have lost loved ones to the police and survivors of police violence. We empower our community to deter police violence, hold law enforcement accountable, and build people-led community safety through grassroots organizing campaigns, community empowerment, political education, our CopWatch program, and by developing safety mechanisms and projects that decrease reliance on police. By building solidarity with other anti-racist, immigrant and people of color-led organizations, the Justice Committee seeks to contribute to a broad-based movement for racial, social, and economic justice.
About Communities United for Police Reform
Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and reduces reliance on policing. CPR runs coalitions of over 200 local, statewide and national organizations, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD.