The NYPD’s prime administrative choose has beneficial dismissing the disciplinary case of a police officer who fatally shot a 37-year-old man whereas off-duty, ruling that the Civilian Grievance Evaluation Board lacks jurisdiction over misconduct that happens off the clock.
The choice on whether or not the case ought to proceed now goes to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, at a delicate time when she and mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani are poised to debate her future on the helm of the division.
Ought to Tisch reject NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado’s dismissal advice, the case towards the officer, Wayne Isaacs, might transfer ahead later this month.
Isaacs faces three fees of improper use of power for capturing Delrawn Small 3 times at a Brooklyn intersection in July 2016 throughout what’s been described as a highway rage incident. Penalties in his case vary from a lack of trip to termination.
Mamdani, who has stated he’d prefer to retain Tisch, has referred to as for increasing the CCRB’s authority over the disciplining of officers, although such an enlargement would require state laws.
Since being appointed commissioner by Mayor Eric Adams final November, Tisch has spoken out publicly concerning the want for stricter self-discipline in sure instances of misconduct, together with for violations of the tactic generally known as cease and frisk. However she’s additionally upset advocates in search of larger accountability on the division by overruling an administrative choose’s advice to terminate an officer, Lt. Jonathan Rivera, who fatally shot a driver in 2019.
There isn’t a statutorial deadline by which Tisch has to render a choice concerning the destiny of Isaacs’ trial, that means it might come after Mamdani makes his appointment for police commissioner.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani delivers his victory speech on the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, Nov. 4, 2025. Credit score: Alex Krales/THE CITY
Ought to her choice prolong into subsequent yr, the delay could be nothing new for the Isaacs case, which has already spanned greater than 9 years and featured an acquittal in a homicide trial, a number of investigations and lawsuits and, extra just lately, a debate over the definition of “off duty.”
Attorneys for Isaacs, from the agency Value, London & Martinez, have argued in latest weeks that the CCRB has no jurisdiction within the case as a result of the capturing occurred when he was performing as a non-public citizen.
However CCRB officers final week uncovered a movement from a 2017 civil declare through which attorneys on the agency (below a previous identify) argued that the town needs to be chargeable for any payouts to Small’s household stemming from Isaacs’ actions as a result of the capturing occurred “within the scope of his employment as [a] New York City Police Officer.”
Maldonado has declined to rethink her advice, in response to an individual with information of the police division’s disciplinary course of, and each side of the case have till Friday to submit their arguments to Tisch.
Small’s brother, Victor Dempsey, stated he was each “baffled” and “infuriated” by the newest flip of occasions, noting that two mayoral administrations and 7 police commissioners have been in energy since his brother was killed.
He stated the town authorities wouldn’t have paid a settlement to his household if officers believed Isaacs had been performing solely as a non-public citizen.
“We’re going through hurdles every time we’re ready to move forward with a disciplinary trial,” stated Dempsey, 39. “He was an officer, period. They can play word games around on duty and off duty, but the fact is there was a settlement for an officer.”
Dempsey recalled that Isaacs’ attorneys additionally emphasised through the legal trial that Isaacs was a member of service who took an oath to uphold the legislation 24/7.
“We’re fighting to get this officer fired because he made a bad decision: He stole someone’s life,” stated Dempsey. “I can’t get my brother back, so I’m doing this so all New Yorkers are safe.”
Isaacs’ attorneys didn’t reply to a request for remark.
However the president of the law enforcement officials union, Patrick Hendry, hailed Maldonado’s ruling, which he stated “struck down yet another attempt by CCRB to bend the law and increase its own power.”
The board’s spokesperson, Dakota Gardner, confirmed Maldonado’s choice, and stated the board is getting ready its letter calling on Tisch to let the trial proceed.
“Deputy Commissioner Maldonado is recommending the case be dismissed because PO Isaacs allegedly didn’t invoke his authority as a police officer, despite having claimed that he acted as a police officer when sued by Mr. Small’s family,” he stated.
‘Police Misconduct’
Isaacs had solely just lately come off obligation from a late shift on the 79th Precinct when he shot Small at an intersection in East New York on July 4, 2016.
Each males’s automobiles have been stopped at a purple mild when, after some kind of driving incident, Small received out of his automobile and approached Isaacs’ automobile. Small’s associate, her older youngster and the couple’s months-old child have been within the automobile on the time.
Isaacs has maintained that Small threatened to kill him and assaulted him, and that he shot Small out of his open window in self-defense. Video of the incident exhibits Isaacs shot Small inside a second or two of Small’s arrival at his automobile door.
Delrawn Small was fatally shot by off-duty NYPD officer Wayne Isaacs. Credit score: Courtesy of Small Household
Isaacs was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury for homicide and manslaughter, fees that have been prosecuted by the state Lawyer Normal’s workplace shortly after it gained jurisdiction in instances of deadly police actions towards civilians. He was acquitted in November 2017.
A couple of yr later, Isaacs was restored to full obligation after the police division’s Power Investigation Division decided he had not violated division procedures.
In October 2020, the Civilian Grievance Evaluation Board substantiated three situations of improper use of power by Isaacs, one for every shot.
His disciplinary trial, which was scheduled to start Nov. 20, had been delayed for a number of years by the board’s unsuccessful lawsuit in search of to unseal data from the legal case.
The data reviewed by THE CITY present that three police commissioners, who’ve last say over self-discipline, have ignored or declined prior requests from Isaacs’ attorneys to halt the CCRB’s administrative prosecution: Dermot Shea in 2021, Keechant Sewell in 2022, and in September, Tisch.
Days earlier than submitting their request to Tisch, the attorneys filed a pre-trial movement with Maldonado arguing, amongst different issues, that the CCRB lacks jurisdiction over the case as a result of Isaacs shot Small “while off police duty, from his personal car, with a personal gun and without identifying himself as a police officer,” in response to the paperwork.
They argued that such instances fall below the purview of the NYPD, which had already dominated that the capturing was justified.
In response, CCRB officers argued that whereas Isaacs had used his private gun, it had been approved by the NYPD solely due to his employment with the division, in order that when he used it he invoked his energy as a police officer.
In a ruling on October 30, which was reviewed by THE CITY, Maldonado agreed with Isaacs’ attorneys.
She discovered that whereas the constitution doesn’t specify whether or not the CCRB’s jurisdiction over use of power incidents relies on an officer’s obligation standing, it does outline the board’s jurisdiction as being over actions that represent “police misconduct.”
Maldonado identified that federal precedent has described off obligation actions as falling below the colour of legislation solely in instances the place officers recognized themselves as legislation enforcement, flashed a badge or took different related actions — none of which Isaacs had completed.
She additionally reviewed all of the instances introduced by the CCRB since 2012, when the board was first granted prosecutorial powers in police self-discipline instances and located solely two proceedings that concerned off-duty incidents — each of which she stated met the usual set by federal precedent.
“Even when reviewed in the light most favorable to CCRB, the totality of the circumstances in this case fall short of what is required to establish that this off-duty firearm discharge constituted ‘police misconduct’ over which it has jurisdiction,” Maldonado wrote in her advice.
It was solely after, her advice was issued that CCRB officers found the civil lawsuit papers that they argue reveal the contradictory arguments made by Isaacs’ legal professionals.
Within the 2017 federal case, which was introduced by Small’s associate, Zaquanna Albert, Isaacs’ attorneys argued that he shouldn’t be held personally chargeable for any civil payouts that resulted from the case as a result of the capturing occurred “within the performance of his duties and within the scope of his employment” as a police officer.
In a letter to Maldonado obtained by THE CITY, CCRB officers instructed Maldonado that the town ultimately agreed to indemnify Isaacs — data present the town paid out $125,000 in a settlement — and requested her to rethink her advice to nix the trial based mostly on the 2017 case.
“Counsel alleged that Police Officer Isaacs’ use of force was compelled by his obligations as a police officer, and that he shot Small in order to prevent Small from committing a serious crime and to protect himself from imminent and probable harm — both of which fall within his duties as an employee of the City,” the officers wrote within the letter.
Isaacs’ attorneys in flip argued that there’s a distinction between the phrases used within the civil case and the executive one, writing that the very fact Isaacs “was furthering the NYPD’s interest or business does not mean that he was engaged in “police conduct.”
On Friday, Maldonado denied the CCRB’s request to rethink.
Prior Rulings
A Deputy Commissioner on the NYPD for 11 years, Maldonado has made powerful and typically controversial rulings in various instances, most notably recommending the termination of officer Daniel Pantaleo for his position within the chokehold demise of Eric Garner in 2014.
Then-Police Commissioner James O’Neill agreed together with her advice and terminated Pantaleo in 2019.
Maldonado can also be the executive choose who beneficial the termination of Rivera, for the deadly capturing of Allan Feliz — the advice Tisch overruled in August.
Final yr, Maldonado made one other high-profile choice on the query of the CCRB’s jurisdiction, discovering that the board couldn’t lawfully prosecute then-Chief of Division Jeffrey Maddrey on a cost of abuse of authority.
Maddrey was dealing with a disciplinary trial for voiding the arrest of a former police officer he used to work with who was arrested in Brooklyn for allegedly menacing three younger children with a gun.
A video investigation produced by THE CITY confirmed that the ex-officer was sprung from a precinct holding cell in Brownsville about an hour after Maddrey arrived there, and that the 2 greeted one another with a hearty handshake within the precinct foyer.
Maldonado dominated in that case, additionally in response to a pre-trial movement, that the CCRB has jurisdiction solely in instances involving police misconduct towards civilians, and that Maddrey’s alleged misconduct hadn’t been directed towards a civilian.
Then-NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban agreed and dismissed the case.
Caban resigned from the NYPD final fall after the FBI confiscated his and his twin brother’s telephones. This previous December, Maddrey resigned from the power after a subordinate accused him of coercing sexual favors from her in change for time beyond regulation. He was suspended by Tisch in January after the FBI raided his dwelling.
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