NYPD cop who shot driver: ‘He was going to kill me’
The NYPD officer on trial for fatally shooting an unarmed man during a road rage incident took the stand in his own defense Wednesday – saying his victim, a father-of-two, screamed, “I’m gonna f–-ing kill you” as he lunged at the cop’s off-duty vehicle and punched him in the face.
“I got a hard hit, and I went back in my chair,” Officer Wayne Isaacs, who’s been on modified duty since the July 2016 incident, told rapt jurors as he mimed falling back in his car seat. “And I discharged upwards of three [shots] from my firearm.
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“I honestly thought he was going to kill me,” the 38-year-old cop, who hails form Guyana, said of Delrawn Small. “He immediately attacked, and he immediately struck me.”
Prosecutors and Small’s girlfriend, Zaquanna Albert, have said that Isaacs cut off Small as he was driving their family home from a barbecue through East New York. Small’s 15-year-old stepdaughter also took the stand to say the officer, who was heading home from a shift and on the way to yet another barbeque, had cut them off.
Yet Isaacs — who worked as a police officer in Guyana and has worked in law enforcement for 20 years — testified Wednesday that he was driving “with the flow of traffic,” and never cut off anyone.
Isaacs, also a father-of-two, said he first saw Small walking through traffic, and assumed he was crossing the street.
“He was in front of the car, in the middle lane,” the cop recalled of Small in the moments leading up to the shooting. “As he got past that car, I saw him turn – I thought he was crossing he street – but I saw him turn toward me. He was looking at me real hard. He was laser focused, he wasn’t running or anything, but he was coming at me.
“I was thinking, I’m here, in East New York, at this time of night, and I’m thinking maybe somebody recognized me from a previous arrest, or maybe I’m being carjacked. He was coming at me in a rage,” the officer told the court.
“He was coming at me, he was upset, you could tell,” Isaacs said, adding he removed his personal firearm from his holster as he “focused on him, trying to asses.”
“As he got close to the car, he was like “I’m gonna f–-ing kill you, and he lunged, and with him saying that, he struck me.”
“Why did you discharge your firearm?” defense attorney Michael Martinez asked his client.
“Because, at that point I thought Delrawn Small was going to kill me,” he responded. “I thought I was going to lose my life. Delrawn Small said he was going to kill me, and he lunged at me. I had to stop the threat of me losing my life.”
The cop, who’s been an NYPD officer since 2013, said he then got out of his car, and saw Small’s bloodied remains.
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He walked back to his car to get his phone, and called 911 to report the assault and ask for an ambulence.
“At this point, there was still a lot of adrenaline pumping,” Isaacs remembered. “I still wasn’t sure exactly why I was attacked and all that. I was looking around, to see if there was anyone else coming.”
Isaacs faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted on second-degree murder charges.
Surveillance footage first obtained by The Post shows Small crossing to Isaacs’ car, and then falling back less than a second after he leans into the window. His body spins before he collapses between two parked cars. A medical examiner has previously testified Small would have bled out in three to ten minutes from a fatal shot that pierced his aorta.
A defense expert, Dr. Nagaraj Rao, testified earlier Monday that Isaacs, who went to the hospital following the incident, had a swollen right cheek.
“Could this injury have been caused by recoil from his own gun?” defense attorney Stephen Worth asked the witness — before Judge Alexander Jeong sustained prosecutor’s objections.
Isaacs remained calm under questioning by prosecutors, as Assistant AG Jose Nieves slammed his use of deadly force.
“Is it your testimony that the NYPD trains you to pull your gun on someone when they look at you,” Nieves asked, to a surprise burst of chuckles from Small’s family and supporters.
“It is the NYPD training to pull your firearm when there is a perceived threat,” the officer responded coolly.
Isaacs said that once he realized Small was “no longer a threat” — when he saw him bleeding out on the pavement — he holstered his weapon.
Nieves noted that, during Isaacs’ 911 call, he failed to mention a man was “bleeding out” — and noted the officer never told anyone on scene that Small had threatened to kill him.
“He had options,” Small’s brother, Victor Dempsey, told reporters after Isaacs stepped down. “Today was the worst day of this trial, to sit there and to have to listen to him lie.”
Worth later said his client did an “excellent” job on the stand.
“He was truthful and he stood tall and strong,” the attorney said. “It’s Mr. Small who chose to turn this into a violent confrontation.
