About Delrawn Small's Killing

37-year-old Delrawn Small was shot and killed by NYPD Officer Wayne Isaacs on July 4, 2016 in East New York, Brooklyn. The killing occurred 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. Isaacs killed Delrawn in front of his loved ones, including his four-month-old son and girlfriend.

Initial accounts from Isaacs and the NYPD claimed that the officer was being physically assaulted when he fired his weapon, but nearby surveillance video, released days after these accounts saturated media coverage of the killing, discredited such accounts. The footage showed that Isaacs fired his gun immediately, before there was any contact between the two men. Isaacs also never sought to check on Delrawn’s health and well-being after firing his weapon or provide any emergency assistance.

The New York State Attorney General charged Officer Isaacs with second degree murder for the killing in September 2016. It is the first police killing of a civilian that the New York State Attorney General will prosecute since the office was authorized to investigate such killings by a 2015 executive order. The executive order was advanced and won by family members of New Yorkers killed by police over past decades in partnership with Communities United for Police Reform members and partners.

 

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