AG: Off-Duty Officer's Road Rage Shooting Was 'Brutal, Deliberate Act'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An NYPD officer appeared in court Tuesday, facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges following a road rage incident.
Wayne Isaacs was indicted Monday in the deadly July 4 shooting of Delrawn Small, 37, who was killed in front of his wife and two children.
"He is on his way to jail right now with cuffs on, and he will stay there," Small's brother said Tuesday, addressing reporters at Kings County Supreme Court.
The officer from the 79th precinct was off duty when he allegedly got into an argument with Small while stopped at a traffic light on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
Surveillance video central to the case shows Small approach Isaacs's unmarked vehicle before falling to the ground from a gunshot wound.
Isaacs claimed Small punched him repeatedly before he fired his service weapon in self defense.
"Is the officer supposed to sit there and get punched or stabbed or shot, because how do you know what the individual has?" Isaacs's lawyer Stephen Worth asked. "What's the point at which deadly physical force was used against him?"
The prosecution said the video shows proof of a, "brutal, deliberate act" after an altercation between the two drivers.
This will be the first police-involved shooting prosecuted by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who was appointed as special prosecutor by executive order under Governor Cuomo.
He said over the summer that he met with the Small family to express his condolences and explain his role in the case.
"My office takes the prosecution of this very seriously and intended to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," Schneiderman told CBS2's Magdalena Doris.
Small's wife has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, seeking $25 million.
"I'm going to fight until there's justice for my husband," Wenona Small said.
Isaacs was held on $500,000. He will be monitored by an ankle bracelet and was ordered to surrender his U.S. and Guyanese passport.
The next court appearance is scheduled for November 22, when the judge will make his decision on the grand jury's findings and how to proceed with the case.
