Slay cop walks
Grieving kin erupt as road-rager acquitted
AN OFF-DUTY police officer was acquitted Monday in the road rage shooting death of a Brooklyn motorist, outraging the victim’s family, who called the standoff “murder, in cold blood.”
Wails of protest erupted inside Brooklyn Supreme Court after jurors cleared Officer Wayne Isaacs of any criminal responsibility in the July 4, 2016, death of Delrawn Small, 37, who was shot three times after approaching Isaacs’ driver’s side window in East New York.
After jurors deliberated three days on murder and manslaughter charges, Isaacs, 38, walked away a free man as shocked relatives cursed him out and called him a killer.
“This is a guy we need to get off the streets,” said Small’s brother, Victor Dempsey. “He cannot represent the NYPD. He cannot represent law enforcement. He can’t. He should have been held accountable today but unfortunately, he wasn’t. Now I’ve got to stand with my family and look at them in the eye and not know how to explain what just happened.”
Angry onlookers, escorted by court officers, stormed out of the courtroom.
“What the f--k! You’re a murderer!” shouted Black Lives Matter leader Hawk Newsome. “This whole system is corrupt!
“You all are murderers,” Newsome shouted at the jurors. “How could you let him free?”
The jury was made up of five whites, five blacks, one Hispanic and one Asian. There were seven women and five men.
Outside Brooklyn Supreme Court, Newsome said he was expecting a conviction.
This was the first murder case prosecuted by the attorney general’s office under Gov. Cuomo’s 2015 executive order requiring a state special prosecutor when unarmed victims are killed by cops.
Newsome said AG Eric Schneiderman’s team failed miserably.
“They dropped the ball, thus providing law enforcement stands together against us,” Newsome said. “It’s like law enforcement versus black people.”
Small’s family defended the prosecutors.
“Our quarrels are not with the AG’s office,” Dempsey said. “It’s the jury. The jury did not listen. They decided to ignore all the facts of the case. The attorney general’s office did their job. (Isaacs) admitted to killing someone in cold blood, yet they didn’t convict.”
Schneiderman said he was disappointed in the verdict.
“But we respect the jury’s determination and thank them for their service,” he said in a statement. “My office will continue to investigate these cases without fear or favor, and follow the facts wherever they may lead.”
Officials said Isaacs, whose $500,000 bond was returned to him, will remain on a non-enforcement duty status without a service weapon while the department conducts an internal investigation.
Critics of the verdict included Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn.
“Wayne Isaacs shot an unarmed man in cold blood on camera in a violent act of road rage,” Jeffries said in a statement. “If it looks like a crime and sounds like a crime, it is a crime.”