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Delrawn Small: Off-Duty Cop Who Fatally Shot Man In Road Rage Incident Likely To Face Charges Due To Video

By Tara West
Published on: 07:57 PST, Jul 10, 2016

Off-duty NYPD officer Wayne Isaacs, who fatally shot Delrawn Small in a road rage incident, will likely face charges of manslaughter following the release of a damning new video. Witnesses to the road rage incident initially claimed that Small went over to Isaacs window following a near-accident and “wailed on his face” before the officer pulled out his service weapon and shot the man dead in the streets. However, surveillance footage of the incident shows that Isaacs waited just one second before shooting Delrawn Small in the head and chest.

The Daily Mail reports that NYPD officer Wayne Isaacs will likely face charges of manslaughter for killing Delrawn Small following an altercation on the road. Isaacs was allegedly off-duty at the time of the incident and was not in uniform when the road rage incident took place. However, the NYPD officer did use a service weapon to kill Small after he claims he thought Small was trying to carjack him.

Initial statements taken from witnesses indicate that some sort of road rage incident took place after the two vehicles almost collided. Following the near-collision, Delrawn Small exited his vehicle and approached Wayne Isaacs car. The witnesses claimed that Small began hitting Isaacs in the head and that the officer retaliated by shooting him in the head and chest. However, new surveillance video captured of the fight shows that Isaacs shot Small just one second after he arrived at his window, indicating that Small would not have had time to continue “wailing him in the head” like witnesses had claimed. Instead, Small may have hit Isaacs once before the shots were fired.

Therefore, officers close to the investigation say that Isaacs will likely face charges of manslaughter, as Small was not armed and it will be hard for the off-duty officer to justify the deadly use of force.

“You’ll see some sort of charges filed. You have a person who is unarmed and they’re going to say the level of force used, versus forced used against him, does not add up. When you use deadly force, there has to be some sort of grave danger to him. He can’t just say, ‘I got punched so I shot him’.”

According to the New York Daily News, Al Sharpton and other protesters are demanding that Isaacs be charged for the killing of Small. Sharpton notes that even though both the police officer and Small were black, it should not mute the outrage for the unjustified killing of a civilian. Sharpton says that he is personally not against just white cops or black cops but rather all cops who do wrong.

“We are not against black cops or white cops — we are against wrong cops. This cop told a story that is wrong and someone lost their life. If he told a story that doesn’t stand up about his alibi, why should we believe anything else he says? He killed a man.”

According to DNA Info, to make matters worse, Small was shot in front of his girlfriend and two children. Though the video shows that Small was not at Isaacs’ window for very long, he got in at least one good punch before he was shot, as the officer suffered bruising to his head. The officer was treated at Jamaica Medical Center. The officer claims that he thought Small was trying to carjack him when he pulled out his service weapon and shot the man.

What do you think about the officer-involved road rage incident and shooting? Should the officer face charges for the shooting death of Small since the man did not have a weapon, or was the shooting justified if Small was punching him in the head at the time of the incident? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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