Delrawn Small

Delrawn Small, 37, a father of three, was shot and killed by off-duty NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs on July 4, 2016, in East New York, Brooklyn, after the two men were involved in a traffic dispute that authorities said continued for several blocks. Small got out of his car and approached Isaacs's vehicle at a stoplight; Isaacs shot him through the driver's-side window, then briefly got out, looked toward Small as he collapsed, and drove away without identifying himself as police or rendering aid. Isaacs testified Small had punched him and that he feared for his life, but surveillance video played at trial appeared to contradict that account, showing Small shot almost immediately upon reaching the car. New York's Attorney General, appointed special prosecutor under a new state policy for police killings of unarmed civilians, charged Isaacs with second-degree murder. A Brooklyn jury acquitted him of all charges in November 2017. No one has ever been convicted in Small's death.

Brooklyn, NY · Kings County

• 2016: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic dispute, the shooting, and Isaacs's departure from the scene, per surveillance video played at trial and the New York Attorney General's prosecution.
• Isaacs was off duty and driving his personal vehicle; he shot Small three times through the driver's-side window without, according to witnesses, ever identifying himself as a police officer.
• This was the first trial prosecuted under an executive order Governor Andrew Cuomo signed appointing the New York Attorney General as special prosecutor in cases where unarmed civilians are killed by police officers.
• Isaacs testified Small punched him in the face and that he feared for his life, and an EMT testified she treated him for facial swelling after the incident; prosecutors argued the surveillance video showed Small was shot almost immediately after reaching the car, undermining the officer's account of an extended physical struggle.
• A Brooklyn jury acquitted Isaacs of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in November 2017, following his own testimony in his defense.
• Isaacs, who is also Black, remained on the police force on non-enforcement duty without his service weapon pending an internal NYPD investigation following the acquittal.
• The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund publicly called on the NYPD to conduct a thorough investigation and impose discipline, including termination, following the acquittal.

• Whether Small in fact struck Isaacs with enough force and intent to justify lethal force, as Isaacs testified and the jury ultimately credited, or whether the surveillance video's near-immediate shooting contradicted that account, as prosecutors and Small's family argued, was the central dispute at trial and was resolved only by the jury's acquittal, not by any independent finding of fact.
• Why Isaacs did not identify himself as a police officer before or immediately after the shooting, and why he drove away rather than rendering aid, was raised at trial but not specifically addressed in the acquittal.
• The outcome of the NYPD's internal disciplinary investigation into Isaacs following the acquittal, which the department stated was ongoing, has not been made comprehensively public.

• ABC7 New York — “Verdict: NYPD officer not guilty in apparent Brooklyn road rage shooting”
• NBC New York — “Off-Duty NYPD Cop Acquitted in Deadly Road Rage Shooting”
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund — “LDF Statement on Acquittal of NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs for Delrawn Small's Death”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs