Discipline Trial Finally Rescheduled for Officer Wayne Isaacs for Killing Delrawn Small Over a Decade Ago

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Family and supporters “deeply concerned” about continued NYPD obstruction, potential bias of presiding NYPD deputy commissioner - and urge Mayor Mamdani to ensure a fair process with no additional obstruction 

New York, NY –– Today, following a meeting with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the brother of Delrawn Small and the Justice Committee announced that a discipline trial for NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs, who killed Delrawn in 2016, is finally scheduled to take place, starting on January 13th, 2027. Mr. Dempsey was joined by the Justice Committee, which has been working closely with Mr. Small’s family since Isaacs killed him, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

“After over a decade of struggling to overcome legal games and delays, I’m relieved that a date for Isaacs’s disciplinary trial has finally been set, but I’m under no illusion that my family’s fight is over,” said Victor Dempsey, the brother of Delrawn Small. “We’re now on our third mayoral administration and seventh police commissioner since Officer Wayne Isaacs shot and killed my brother in front of his four-month-old son, and Isaacs has been shielded from discipline every step of the way. I am deeply concerned that this pattern will continue, but I will not stop fighting until he is fired without a pension or a ‘good guy letter’ that would allow him to keep his gun.”

Delrawn’s family’s campaign for Isaacs to be fired finally appeared to be nearing its end last year, when his discipline trial was scheduled for November 2025. However, just weeks before it was set to begin, it was abruptly canceled after Isaacs’s police union attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming that the CCRB lacks jurisdiction because Isaacs was not acting as a police officer when he killed Delrawn, and NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado sided with them, recommending all charges against Isaacs be dismissed. 

The CCRB, Delrawn’s family, and supporters have repeatedly highlighted the contradiction between this argument and the opposite argument Isaacs’s lawyers used to defend him in civil and criminal proceedings. The case remained stalled throughout most of Mamdani’s first year, pending a final decision from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Although the discipline trial is now set to move forward, the family is concerned about the fairness of the proceedings, as Maldonado—who had recommended dismissing Isaacs’s misconduct charges based on Isaacs’ police union attorneys self-contradicted claim related to whether he was acting as a police officer when he killed Delrawn —is expected to preside over the disciplinary trial.

“How can Delrawn’s family and New Yorkers have confidence in the process when the official overseeing the trial has already recommended throwing out the charges and we’ve been through more than a decade of obstruction & delays by the NYPD and police unions in this case alone?” said Justice Committee Executive Director Loyda Colón (they/them). “Deputy Commissioner Maldonado already sided with Isaacs’ attorneys’ bogus jurisdictional argument, even though they established that he acted in his police capacity when they defended Isaacs in both the criminal and civil cases - and the NYPD treated Isaacs as an officer after the killing. It’s outrageous that we and Delrawn’s family have to fight for a fair process on top of everything else they’ve endured to get this far. We urge Mayor Mamdani and his administration to take concrete steps to address our concerns and ensure that Isaacs’ trial moves forward without further delay, without further NYPD obstruction and without bias. Ultimately, the mayor and Commissioner Tisch must do what should have been done ten years ago and fire Wayne Isaacs. The fact that Isaacs is still paid by NYC taxpayers is a disgrace.” 

“Delrawn Smalls’ family has been fighting for justice for over a decade,” said Council Member Sandy Nurse. “Meanwhile, Officer Wayne Isaacs has kept his job and faced no accountability for killing Delrawn. I stand with Delrawn’s family in their struggle for disciplinary actions against him and call on Mayor Mamdani and Commissioner Tisch to act swiftly to bring this family some sense of justice.” 

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BACKGROUND: On July 4, 2016 NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs shot and killed Delrawn Small in front of his four-month-old son, step-daughter and girlfriend. Isaacs, who was off duty, had been driving erratically down Atlantic Avenue and cut Delrawn’s car off several times. When Delrawn approached Isaacs’ car, Isaacs rolled down his window, shot Delrawn three times and then left him to bleed out in the street without offering aid. Delrawn was unarmed.

The NYS Attorney General’s Office prosecuted Isaacs for murder in the first case that went to trial after Governor Andrew Cuomo's 2015 executive order authorizing the AG to investigate police killings. The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) substantiated fireable misconduct charges against Isaacs in October 2020, but the NYPD delayed serving the misconduct charges on Isaacs for almost a year. Isaacs and his police union attorneys have subsequently pursued multiple tactics to obstruct the discipline process, including filing an unsuccessful Article 78 lawsuit, attempted to convince multiple NYPD Commissioners to block the CCRB’s prosecution, and they successfully appeal  the court’s decision to unseal Isaacs’s criminal case records, creating an additional obstacle to the discipline prosecution.

Isaacs’s discipline trial was originally scheduled to begin on November 19, 2025. His police union attorneys filed a last-minute motion to dismiss, claiming the CCRB lacked jurisdiction because Isaacs was not acting in the capacity of a police officer when he killed Delrawn. Isaacs’s jurisdictional argument contradicts positions his attorneys took in the civil and criminal cases, in which they argued that he was acting as a police officer. In spite of the obvious contradiction, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado recommended all charges be dismissed and the trial was removed from the calendar just weeks before it was set to begin. The final decision to either dismiss the charges or allow the trial to proceed had been stalled for almost a year with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. 

Isaacs killed Delrawn one day before Louisiana police killed Alton Sterling and two days before Philando Castile was killed by police in Minnesota. The officer who killed Philando Castile was fired in less than a year after the killing, one of the officers who killed Alton Sterling was fired within 2 years.  More than thirteen years after Isaacs shot and killed Mr. Small, he is still employed as an officer with the NYPD.  

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